Security Deposit Alternative in Mississippi
Mississippi sets no ceiling on a security deposit and gives you 45 days to return it, but the clock has three triggers: the tenancy has ended, the resident has moved out, and the resident has asked for it. Anything you keep has to be itemized in a written notice, and the list of allowed deductions is short: unpaid rent, damage beyond ordinary wear, cleaning, and other reasonable costs of the resident's default. A bad-faith retention adds up to $200 to whatever actual damages a court finds.
What Mississippi law says about security deposits
Read from the Mississippi statute on 2026-09-14. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Mississippi resident?
Mississippi has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the arrangement rests on your lease and the general deposit rules. Section 89-8-21 covers any payment or deposit of money whose primary function is to secure performance of the rental agreement, and it sets no maximum. The money is held for the resident, and the resident's claim to it comes ahead of any creditor of yours. You may claim from it, by written itemized notice, only what is reasonably necessary to cover unpaid rent, damage beyond ordinary wear, cleaning at move-out, and other reasonable expenses caused by the resident's default. The balance goes back no later than 45 days after the tenancy ends, possession is delivered, and the resident makes a demand. Keeping any of it in bad faith exposes you to up to $200 on top of actual damages.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Mississippi
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Mississippi property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Mississippi security deposit alternative FAQs
Mississippi has no statute answering that, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. Section 89-8-21 governs any payment whose primary function is to secure the rental agreement, so whether a monthly fee is such a payment is where that review should begin.
See it on your Mississippi units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.