Pending Bills Regarding Real Property – Land Title Association of Mississippi

The following pending bills affecting real property are still alive in the Mississippi
Legislature as of March 13, 2023.

HB 280 would create a committee to study the purchase of agricultural lands in
Mississippi by foreign governments and require the committee to submit a report to the
Legislature by December 1, 2023.

HB 685 would amend Section 81-1-7 to provide that a conveyance to a married couple of
property used as their primary residence would create a rebuttable presumption that the property
interest is a joint tenancy with right of survivorship unless the deed otherwise specifies. [Editor’s
note: Since the presumption is limited to married couples, should the conveyance be presumed to
create a tenancy by entireties?]

HB 894 would amend Section 17-1-27 of the Mississippi Code to permit local
governments to impose administrative and civil penalties (i.e., fines) for violation of zoning
ordinances. Section 17-1-27 currently permits only criminal fines of $100 per day.

SB 2164 would amend Section 37-7-473 to allow school districts to sell land for
residential and mixed-use development. Section 37-7-473 currently allows school districts to sell
land only for industrial development. This bill has been passed by both houses of the Legislature
and has been sent to the Governor for his signature.

SB 2392 amends Section 19-5-22 to provide that garbage liens will be recorded in the
chancery clerk’s office and shall include all information needed for recording and filing. This bill
has been passed by both houses of the Legislature and has been sent to the Governor for his
signature.

SB 2647 would amend Section 73-35-4.1 and Section 89-1-505 to provide that brokers
are not liable to any party for information provided by the seller in a Property Condition
Disclosure Statement. SB 2647 also would amend Section 89-1-505 to provide that a seller
would not have any liability for an error in a Property Condition Disclosure Statement if the error
was not within the personal knowledge of the seller, was based on information provided by
public agencies, and the seller exercised ordinary care in providing the information. Finally, SB
2647 would amend Section 89-1-503 to provide that if the seller failed to complete a part of the
Property Condition Disclosure Statement, the purchaser was on notice to make inquiry of the
seller about the failure to disclose.

SB 2751 would amend Miss. Code Ann. § 29-3-132 to provide that city and county
zoning and land use laws do not prohibit the use by school districts of sixteenth-section lands for
education or extracurricular facilities. This bill has been passed by both houses of the Legislature
and has been sent to the Governor for his signature.

The following bills made it all the way through the legislative process until they died at
the March 8 deadline:

HB 246 would have enacted a new statute providing that a right of first refusal (“ROFR”)
in real property is extinguished upon the death of the grantee of the option unless (a) the ROFR
or a memo of the ROFR is filed in the land records, and (b) the recorded ROFR or memo or
ROFR states that the ROFR inures to the benefit of the heirs and assigns of the grantee.

HB 821 would have amended Section 25-34-9 to permit persons who are not residents of
Mississippi to be notary publics in Mississippi if their place of employment is in this state.

HB 1155 would have allowed a majority of homeowners in a residential subdivision to
file a petition in the chancery court to enact or amend restrictive covenants for the subdivision.