Harrison County, MS Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Harrison County's Unified Development Code allows three tiers of home-based business on residential property under Section 819: home occupation, home employment, and rural home business, each with its own standards under Sections 819.02, 819.03 and 819.05. Rural home business is the most intensive of the three, permitting up to two non-resident employees and an on-site sign, but Section 819.05(c) carves out one activity by name: 'Auto wrecking, as defined in Section 203, shall not be considered a rural home business.' Section 203 defines auto wrecking broadly, collecting, burning out, dismantling or wrecking used motor vehicles, or storing, selling or dumping dismantled or wrecked vehicles or parts, including the dismantling of more than one vehicle at a time as a principal use, or even storing a single partially dismantled vehicle.

A home-based operation that meets that definition cannot be approved under any of the county's home-business tiers, regardless of lot size or district. The other rural-home-business standards in Section 819.05 still constrain any auto-related work that is permitted, the business area on the lot devoted to the operation can't exceed 25% of the dwelling's gross floor area (or 600 square feet, whichever is greater), parking for the business is capped at 2,000 square feet, hours are limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and accessory buildings used for the business remain subject to the Section 815 size and height limits.