South Carolina Landlord-Tenant Laws 2026: What Renters and Landlords Need to Know
South Carolina Rental Law 2026: What Title 27, Chapter 40 Actually Says
South Carolina’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act runs statewide. No county opt-in. No population line to check. On repair-and-deduct, the old page had the right instinct but said too little. It called the remedy “not codified.” The statute goes further than silence. It rules the remedy out by name. The old page’s real invention sits elsewhere, in the tenant-protections table: a domestic-violence early-termination right with no section behind it. None exists in this chapter.
Security Deposits in South Carolina
| Requirement | South Carolina Law |
|---|---|
| Maximum Deposit | No cap set by statute |
| Return Deadline | 30 days, counted from whichever comes last: lease termination, handover of the keys, or the tenant’s own written demand |
| Interest Required? | No |
| Wrongful Withholding Penalty | Triple the amount wrongfully kept, plus reasonable attorney’s fees (§ 27-40-410(b)) |
That clock doesn’t just start at move-out. A tenant has to send the landlord a forwarding address first. Skip that step, and both the landlord’s return duty and the tenant’s own treble-damages claim never fully engage.
Lease Agreements and Disclosures
An oral lease is enforceable in South Carolina. Before signing, a landlord owes the tenant a few specific disclosures:
- Lead-based paint hazards, for anything built before 1978 (a federal rule, not a state one)
- Known material defects in the unit
- The owner or authorized agent’s name and address
Rent Increases and Late Fees
| Rule | South Carolina Law |
|---|---|
| Rent Control | Nowhere in the state |
| Notice to Raise Rent, Month-to-Month | 30 days ahead of the change |
| Late Fee | No dollar or percentage ceiling in the statute. It has to come from the lease itself |
| Grace Period | None required |
Eviction Process in South Carolina
Nonpayment hides a real trap. Most tenants expect a fresh warning every time rent runs late. That’s not how the statute reads. A landlord who gives the standard five-day notice once during a lease term has satisfied the duty for the rest of that term. The same goes for a lease that already carries the statute’s own boilerplate warning language. No second notice is required after that.
| Eviction Type | Notice Period | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Payment of Rent | 5 days from the due date | One notice — or the right lease clause — can cover an entire lease term |
| Lease Violation, Curable | 14 days to fix after written notice | Repair it by the stated date and the tenancy continues. A fix that can’t finish in 14 days still counts if it starts on time and moves forward in good faith |
| No-Cause, Month-to-Month | 30 days’ written notice | Ends the periodic tenancy outright |
Chapter 40 doesn’t fix a court date by statute. Scheduling is a matter for the magistrate’s court itself, not this chapter. A flat “3 to 6 weeks” figure isn’t something the text here backs up.
Maintenance and Repair Obligations
Implied Warranty of Habitability
§ 27-40-440 sets the floor: code compliance, running water, working heat, functioning electrical and plumbing systems. None of it waives away for an ordinary rental. A single-family lease can shift a few listed duties onto the tenant in writing. That only holds up if it’s done in good faith, not as a dodge.
Repair-and-Deduct: Ruled Out by Name, With One Narrow Exception
§ 27-40-630(c) doesn’t hedge. It says: “Under no circumstances should this section be interpreted to authorize the tenant to make repairs on the rental property and deduct the cost of the repairs from rent.” Try it anyway and file a lien over it, and that lien is unenforceable. The real habitability remedy runs through § 27-40-610. Written notice first. A 14-day cure window next. Still broken after that, and the tenant may terminate the lease and sue for actual damages and an injunction. Not deduct anything.
One narrow exception survives, and most guides miss it: essential services. Water, heat, anything of that kind. If a landlord negligently or willfully cuts one off, § 27-40-630(a) lets the tenant buy a reasonable substitute and deduct the actual cost from rent. Or sue over the drop in the unit’s rental value instead. That’s it. It doesn’t stretch to general repairs, and choosing this path closes off § 27-40-610 for that same problem.
Tenant Rights and Protections
| Protection | South Carolina Law |
|---|---|
| Entry Notice | 24 hours for ordinary entry, at a reasonable time (§ 27-40-530). Two carve-outs need less: none at all for a true emergency, and no full 24 hours for a pre-announced periodic service visit (9 a.m.–6 p.m., if the lease discloses it) or a tenant-requested service call (8 a.m.–8 p.m.) |
| Retaliation Protection | § 27-40-910 bars an above-market rent hike or a possession suit filed to punish a code complaint. No fixed presumption window in days. But a landlord who raises a bad-faith retaliation defense risks treble damages or three months’ rent, whichever runs higher. One exception: a landlord with more than four adjoining units can raise rent without triggering the presumption, as long as the increase hits every tenant the same way |
| Domestic Violence | Not found in this chapter. A full search of Title 27, Chapter 40’s text turned up no early-termination right tied to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The old page’s “protective order documentation” claim cited no section, because none exists here. Whether some other part of South Carolina law provides this right is outside what this guide checked — that’s an open question, not a confirmed no. Check the lease itself, and talk to a domestic violence advocate or legal aid office to find out for certain |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does South Carolina have a repair-and-deduct law? No, and it’s more than silence. § 27-40-630(c) says directly that its essential-services remedy can’t be read to authorize deducting general repair costs from rent. An uncured habitability problem gets a 14-day notice, then lease termination plus a damages suit — not a deduction.
Can a South Carolina tenant deduct anything from rent at all? Only for essential services cut off by the landlord’s negligence or willful act — water, heat, and similar. § 27-40-630(a) lets the tenant buy a reasonable substitute and deduct its actual cost. That’s much narrower than general repairs.
Does a South Carolina landlord need to send a new five-day notice every time rent is late? Not always. One prior notice, or the statute’s own boilerplate warning written into the lease, can cover the whole lease term.
Can a domestic violence victim end a South Carolina lease early by law? No specific statute granting that turned up in Title 27, Chapter 40. Confirm with a local legal aid office or domestic violence advocate rather than assume the protection is there.