Being Evicted
S.C. Code 27-40-710 and S.C. Code 27-37-20 — five days on rent, a rule to vacate, ten days to show cause
An eviction, the sections this page reads say, in short:
- If rent is not paid within five days of the due date, the landlord may end the agreement after written notice of the nonpayment and of the intent to terminate if it is not paid within that time.
- One such notice satisfies the duty for the whole lease, and so does conspicuous language in a written agreement saying the tenant gets no other notice.
- For other breaches materially affecting health and safety, the landlord's notice gives at least fourteen days to remedy them.
- On the landlord's application, a magistrate issues a written rule requiring the tenant to vacate or to show cause why not, within ten days after it is served.
- A tenant who does not appear and show cause within the ten days is ejected under a warrant of ejectment.
- The officer serving the writ gives the occupants twenty four hours to leave voluntarily.
A tenant may be ejected on the landlord's application when the tenant fails or refuses to pay rent when due or demanded, the tenancy's term has ended, or the lease's terms have been violated.
Rent while the case is pending. Where the tenant raises defenses or counterclaims, the tenant pays the landlord rent as it comes due after the rule issues, and pays the rent alleged owed before it, or shows a receipt or cancelled check that it was paid. A tenant who does not comply has a warrant of ejectment issued.
If the occupants do not leave within twenty four hours or the place looks unoccupied, the officer announces his identity and purpose, and a deputy sheriff, though not a constable, may enter by force using the least destructive means. The officer may grant a delay for ill or elderly tenants.
Belongings put on a public street after an eviction may be removed by local officials after forty eight hours, not counting weekends and holidays, and the notice of eviction must say so. A tenant may raise the landlord's failure to keep the premises as a defense in some cases. Questions about a particular eviction are for a licensed South Carolina attorney.
Sources for this section (7)
- S.C. Code 27-40-710 — Noncompliance with rental agreement; failure to pay rent
- S.C. Code 27-37-10 — Grounds for ejectment of tenant
- S.C. Code 27-37-20 — Ejectment proceedings
- S.C. Code 27-37-40 — Tenant ejected on failure to show cause
- S.C. Code 27-37-160 — Execution of writ of ejectment
- S.C. Code 27-40-790 — Payment of rent into court
- S.C. Code 27-40-640 — Landlord's noncompliance as defense to action for possession or rent
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Carolina attorney.