Rental Registration Program

At a glance

What: Revised city ordinance on rental registration and inspection (Code Chapter 26, Article XII), rewritten after a Hinds County Circuit Court ruling in a challenge by the Mississippi Apartment Association.
Where it stands: Adopted December 2, 2025, 7-0.
Next: Implementation by the Department of Planning and Development, including the new appeal process.

Inspection fees are unenforceable until the City makes a fact-based determination of expected costs. The "resides in the city limits" requirement for local agents and the language on disposing of a tenant's property after a removal warrant were struck. The City must provide an appeal process.

A cost analysis found inspections cost $80 per unit and registrations $64.68 each.
New fees: single-family homes pay $50 to register or renew (maximum $2,000 per owner) and $50 per unit inspected; multi-family properties pay $50 per property and $25 per unit inspected; re-inspection is $50 per unit.
After a failed inspection the Department must notify the owner in writing within 10 days and allow 45 days to fix deficiencies (7 days to apply for a permit if one is needed); up to four inspections before a Certificate of Compliance is denied.
Appeals: an owner denied a certificate after a fourth failed inspection appeals to the Planning and Development director (decision within 45 days), then to Council within 30 days. Owners may keep operating during an appeal unless the director finds a clear and substantial threat to tenants.
Moved by Stokes, seconded by Brown-Thomas; yeas all seven members.

Ordinance modifying the rental registration program adopted 7-0 with the cost-based fee schedule and an appeal process.