Southaven, MS Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 4-66 opens the general requirements of the Property Maintenance Code, which the Board of Aldermen enacted by resolution of November 3, 2015 as Article III of Title IV, Buildings. Section 1.1 confines the chapter to the minimum conditions and responsibilities of persons for maintenance of structures, equipment and exterior property. Section 1.2 splits the duty. The owner of the premises maintains the structures and exterior property. No owner-occupant can occupy, and no owner can permit another person to occupy, premises that are not in a sanitary and safe condition or that fail this chapter. Occupants of a dwelling unit answer for the part of the unit they occupy and control. The code defines owner broadly: any person or corporation with legal or equitable interest, the recorded title holder, or anyone otherwise having control of the property. A tenant is any person, corporation, partnership or group, whether or not the legal owner of record, occupying a building or portion of one as a unit.

Sec. 4-56 applies the code to all existing residential and nonresidential structures and premises and excludes those with current agricultural operations. Its stated intent is to prevent blighted properties, preserve property values and discourage criminal activity. Sec. 4-57 adds that no owner, operator or occupant can cause a required service, facility, equipment or utility to be removed from, shut off from or discontinued for an occupied dwelling, except for the temporary interruption necessary while repairs or alterations are in progress. Where two provisions conflict, the most restrictive governs. Historic buildings are not held to the mandatory provisions when the code official judges them safe and in the public interest of health, safety and welfare.

The Planning Director serves as the code official under Sec. 4-58 and issues the notices and orders (Sec. 4-59). Sec. 4-67 lists the specific conditions that count as a Blighted Property, and Sec. 4-183 separately lets the public officers declare a building unfit for human habitation.