Title 27, Property and Conveyances

(A) The copy of the rule provided for in Section 27-37-20 may be served in the same manner as is provided by law for the service of the summons in actions pending in the court of common pleas or magistrates courts of this State. The methods of service described in subsections (B)…

If the tenant fails to appear and show cause within the aforesaid ten days then the magistrate shall issue a warrant of ejectment and the tenant shall be ejected by his regular or special constable or by the sheriff of the county.

The magistrate may grant a change of venue in an ejectment case as in any other civil case on a proper showing.

If the tenant appear and contest ejectment the magistrate shall forthwith hear and determine the case as any other civil case, allowing trial by jury if demanded by either party.

In any trial before the magistrate in an ejectment case either with or without jury the landlord may be designated as plaintiff and the tenant as defendant.

Either landlord or tenant may demand trial by jury. In such case a jury shall be summoned and a jury trial had as in any other civil case. Upon the testimony offered, under instructions by the magistrate as to the law, the jury shall find for either the landlord or tenant as in a…

When a jury is had in an ejectment case the magistrate may grant a new trial as in any other civil case.

The remedy of distress given in Article 3 of this chapter shall not affect the right of a landlord to collect farm or agricultural rents by seizure or attachment of crops growing or gathered as provided by law, nor shall Chapters 33 through 41 of this Title affect liens for agric…

Any payment made in anticipation of rent for a longer period than twelve months shall not be considered a valid discount against the claims and rights of third persons.

A landlord may enforce collection of rent due by distress in the following manner, to wit: Any magistrate having jurisdiction over the district in which the premises occupied are situate may issue, upon receipt of an affidavit of the landlord or his agent setting forth the amount…

The purpose of the predistress hearing is to protect the tenant's use and possession of property from arbitrary encroachment and to prevent unfair or mistaken deprivation of property. If the magistrate shall, after conducting the hearing, find that the landlord's right to distres…

The following property is exempt from distress for rent: (1) personal clothing and food within the dwelling; (2) bedsteads; (3) bedding and cooking utensils; and (4) property which is owned by a third party for which the magistrate finds ownership was not transferred from the ten…

The officer to whom a distress warrant is delivered, after the predistress hearing, shall forthwith demand of the tenant payment of the rent with costs as enumerated in the distress warrant. If such amount is paid the officer shall return the warrant with the amount collected to …

If any property distrained is not the property of the tenant, the tenant shall immediately name the owner and inform the officer of the ownership, and the officer shall distrain sufficient other property of the tenant to pay the rent and costs. Even though property of the tenant …

Any property belonging to the tenant removed from the premises shall, if found, be subject to distraint and sale, provided such distraint be made within thirty days after such removal.

When tenants pur autre vie hold over the tenements to them demised after the determination of such leases, any person having any rent in arrears or due upon any such lease may distrain for such arrears after the determination of the lease, in the same manner as he might have done…

Any distress must be reasonable in respect to the amount of property distrained.

No tenant shall be prejudiced or damaged by payment of any rent to any grantor or conusor or by breach of any condition for nonpayment of rent before notice shall be given to him of such grant by the conusee or grantee.

Any lessor or landlord who makes unreasonable and excessive distress shall be liable for all damages sustained by the tenant whose goods are distrained by reason of such excessive distress. Such damage may be recovered by an action in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Within five days after such distraint the tenant may free the property from the lien of the distraint by giving a bond payable to the landlord in double the amount claimed, with sufficient surety or sureties approved by the court, and the issues thus joined shall be tried by the …

If the tenant fails to give bond as above prescribed then the officer may sell such property at public auction to the highest bidder for cash at a designated place of sale after posting a notice of such sale for five days upon the premises and two other public places in the count…

The purchaser at a sale of chattels seized under a distress warrant shall take the property subject to any lien for taxes thereon.

The landlord or any other person may become a purchaser at a sale of chattels under a distress warrant.

If the property distrained brings more than the rent with costs at such sale the surplus shall be paid to the tenant, and the rent shall be paid to the landlord.

The remedy of distress shall be deemed cumulative with respect to any other remedy for the collection of rent.

Any person having any rent in arrears or due upon any lease or demise for life or lives may bring an action of debt for such arrears of rent in the same manner as he might have done in case such rent were due and reserved upon a lease for years.

No county or municipal corporation may enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance or resolution which would regulate in any way the amount of rent to be charged for privately owned, single family, or multiple unit residential, or commercial rental property. This section may not be…

This chapter is known and may be cited as the South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.

This chapter applies to, regulates, and determines rights, obligations, and remedies under a rental agreement, wherever made, for a dwelling unit located within this State.

The following arrangements are not governed by this chapter: (1) residence at an institution, public or private, if incidental to detention or the provision of medical, geriatric, educational, counseling, religious, or similar service; (2) occupancy under a contract of sale of a …

(a) The circuit courts and magistrate courts of this State shall exercise concurrent jurisdiction over any landlord with respect to any conduct in this State governed by this chapter or with respect to any claim arising from a transaction subject to this chapter. In addition to a…

(a) This chapter must be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies. (b) Underlying purposes and policies of this chapter are: (1) to simplify, clarify, modernize, and revise the law governing rental of dwelling units and the rights and obliga…

Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent articles of this chapter which apply to specific articles or parts of this chapter, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this chapter: (1) "action" includes recoupment, counterclaim, set-off, suit in equity, and a…

Every duty under this chapter and every act which must be performed as a condition precedent to the exercise of a right or remedy under this chapter imposes an obligation of good faith in its performances or enforcement.

(a) If the court as a matter of law, finds: (1) a rental agreement was unconscionable when made, the court may refuse to enforce the rental agreement; (2) any provision of a rental agreement was unconscionable when made, the court may enforce the remainder of the agreement withou…

(A) A person has notice of a fact if: (1) the person has actual knowledge of it; (2) the person has received a notice or notification of it; or (3) from all the facts and circumstances known to him at the time in question he has reason to know that it exists. A person "knows" or …

Unless displaced by the provisions of this chapter, the principles of law and equity, including the law relating to capacity to contract, mutuality of obligations, principal and agent, real property, public health, safety and fire prevention, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, d…

(a) A landlord and a tenant may include in a rental agreement terms and conditions not prohibited by this chapter or other rule of law, including rent, term of the agreement, and other provisions governing the rights and obligations of the parties. (b) In absence of agreement, th…

(a) If the landlord does not sign and deliver a written rental agreement which has been signed and delivered to the landlord by the tenant, acceptance of rent without reservation by the landlord gives the rental agreement the same effect as if it had been signed and delivered by …

(a) A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant: (1) agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under this chapter; (2) authorizes any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of the rental agreement; (3) agrees to the exculpation or limitation of any liability …

A rental agreement, assignment, conveyance, trust deed, mortgage, or security instrument may not permit the receipt of rent absent the obligation to comply with SECTION 27-40-440(a).

This chapter being a general chapter intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter, no part of it is to be construed as impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if that construction can reasonably be avoided.

(a) Upon termination of the tenancy, property or money held by the landlord as security must be returned less amounts withheld by the landlord for accrued rent and damages which the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with Section 27-40-510. Any deductio…

(a) A landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on his behalf shall disclose to the tenant in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy the name and address of an owner of the premises or a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner as age…

At the commencement of the term a landlord shall deliver possession of the premises to the tenant in compliance with the rental agreement and SECTION 27-40-440. The landlord may bring an action for possession against any person wrongfully in possession and may recover the damages…

(a) A landlord shall: (1) comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety; (2) make all repairs and do whatever is reasonably necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition; (3) keep all common …