A warrant of removal in Mississippi is the court order that authorizes a sheriff or constable to physically remove a tenant from a rental property after the tenant has lost an eviction case and failed to leave by the court-ordered move-out date. It is the final step in the residential eviction process under the Mississippi Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and it is the only lawful mechanism for forcing a holdover tenant out of a dwelling once a judgment of possession has been entered.
The warrant is not automatic, and it is not the same thing as the eviction judgment. A tenant who understands the sequence, the deadlines, and the narrow window to stop the warrant has real options. A tenant who ignores the summons and the move-out date usually does not.
When the Warrant Gets Issued
The warrant sits at the end of a specific sequence. A landlord first delivers the written breach notice required by statute, then files a sworn complaint in the justice court for the county where the property sits. The court issues a summons setting a hearing no more than fourteen days after the tenant is served.1Mississippi Legislature. Mississippi Code 89-8-35 – Summons and Service of Process for Eviction
If the landlord wins at the hearing, or if the tenant does not show up and loses by default, the court issues a judgment of possession and orders the tenant to vacate within seven days. The court can shorten or extend that window for emergencies or other compelling reasons, but seven days is the standard.2Justia. Mississippi Code 89-8-39 – Residential Evictions; Order to Vacate; Warrant for Removal
The warrant of removal comes next, but only if the tenant stays past that court-ordered date. Once the date passes with the tenant still in the property, the landlord may ask the judge for the warrant and pay the applicable fees. The judge then issues the warrant to the sheriff or a constable, directing that officer to remove all occupants and put the landlord back in full possession of the property.2Justia. Mississippi Code 89-8-39 – Residential Evictions; Order to Vacate; Warrant for Removal
So the practical trigger is simple. Judgment, seven days to leave, and if the tenant is still there on day eight, the landlord can go back to the court for the warrant.
Who Can Actually Carry It Out
Only the sheriff or constable named in the warrant has the legal authority to remove a tenant at this stage. The landlord cannot hire a moving crew, cannot change the locks, and cannot personally force anyone out, even with a judgment in hand. Those actions are reserved for the officer executing the warrant.
That matters for both sides. For tenants, it means an eviction judgment on its own does not give the landlord permission to touch your belongings or your door; something has to happen between the judgment and the removal, and that something is the warrant. For landlords, it means skipping the warrant step and attempting removal directly is unlawful even after winning in court.
Stopping a Warrant by Paying Rent
When the eviction is based solely on nonpayment of rent, the tenant has a specific statutory escape route that stays open until the last moment. The judge cannot issue the warrant if the tenant pays all unpaid rent and any other amounts awarded in the judgment by the court-ordered move-out date. And even after that date, if the landlord accepts the full amount, the warrant still cannot be issued.2Justia. Mississippi Code 89-8-39 – Residential Evictions; Order to Vacate; Warrant for Removal
The statute puts a good-faith obligation on the landlord to accept the full amount owed if the tenant tenders it on or before the move-out date. A landlord who refuses full payment just to push the removal through runs into the statute, not around it.
This protection is narrow in one important way. It applies only to evictions based on nonpayment. If the eviction was ordered for a different lease violation, paying any back rent will not stop the warrant.
72 Hours to Retrieve Your Belongings
After the sheriff executes the warrant, the landlord must give the tenant reasonable access to the property for seventy-two consecutive hours to retrieve personal belongings, including any manufactured home on the premises. Once those seventy-two hours pass, the landlord can move any remaining property to the curb, to a garbage area, or to another location the tenant and landlord agree on.3Mississippi Legislature. House Bill 499 – Mississippi Code 89-8-39
Three days is a tight window. If you have reason to believe the warrant is coming or has just been executed, line up transportation and storage immediately. After the seventy-two hours are up, you lose your right to re-enter the property, and the landlord has no obligation to store what you leave behind.
Appealing After You’ve Been Removed
A tenant who loses an eviction case can appeal to the circuit court within thirty days after possession is delivered to the landlord. The appeal requires written notice to the landlord and a bond, approved by the justice court, with sufficient sureties to cover the landlord’s costs if the tenant loses on appeal. The circuit court can affirm the eviction or order the property returned to the tenant with costs charged to the landlord.
The timing is the catch. An appeal does not automatically pause the warrant or let you stay in the home. Once the warrant has been executed, you are already out, and an appeal from that point is a request to be restored to possession rather than a way to prevent removal. The leverage for a tenant is at the hearing and in the days immediately after judgment, not after the sheriff has come and gone.
Commercial and Other Nonresidential Properties
Everything above describes the residential process under Chapter 8 of Title 89, which governs dwelling units, including houses, apartments, and manufactured homes.4Justia. Mississippi Code 89-8-7 – Definitions; Agent of Landlord Commercial spaces, warehouses, and vacant land fall under a separate nonresidential track in Sections 89-7-27 through 89-7-35, with its own notice periods and timelines.5Justia. Mississippi Code 89-7-27 – Nonresidential Evictions; Authorized in Certain Circumstances The warrant stage looks similar: after judgment and a court-ordered vacate date, the landlord can request a warrant directing the sheriff to remove the occupants.6Justia. Mississippi Code 89-7-35 – Nonresidential Evictions; Order to Vacate; Warrant for Removal The nonpayment protection and seventy-two-hour belongings rule described above are features of the residential statute and should not be assumed to apply the same way to commercial tenancies.
What to Do If a Warrant Is Coming
If you are a tenant and the court has ordered you to vacate, the clock starts the moment that judgment is entered. You have seven days unless the court set a different period. If the case was about nonpayment and you can pull together the full amount owed under the judgment, paying by the move-out date stops the warrant from issuing at all. If you cannot pay, use the seven days to move as much as possible, because once the sheriff executes the warrant you have only seventy-two more hours of access.
If you are a landlord and the tenant has not left by the court-ordered date, go back to the justice court, request the warrant, and pay the fees. Do not attempt the removal yourself. The warrant exists precisely so that the removal is lawful, documented, and carried out by someone with the legal authority to do it.