South Carolina: Eviction Notice Requirements
The short answer
For unpaid rent, a South Carolina landlord must give written notice and 5 days to pay before terminating — but with a big catch: if your lease contains the statute's 'you will get no other notice' language, or you have already received one such notice, the landlord can skip straight to filing. For a fixable lease violation you get 14 days to cure. To end a month-to-month tenancy for no reason, the landlord gives 30 days' written notice (7 days for week-to-week). South Carolina has no statewide just-cause requirement, and no separate no-cure eviction notice — even a serious breach runs through the 14-day cure period.
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This is the general rule in South Carolina. Ezel applies current South Carolina law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, S.C. Code §§ 27-40-10 to -940 (a Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act state). Nonpayment and lease-violation notices § 27-40-710; health-and-safety noncompliance § 27-40-720; periodic-tenancy termination § 27-40-770; notice/delivery rules § 27-40-240; retaliation defense § 27-40-910. The eviction suit itself is an 'ejectment' in magistrate's court under a separate chapter |
|---|---|
| Notice for unpaid rent | 5 days. The landlord must give written notice of nonpayment and intent to terminate; paying within 5 days of the due date stops it (§ 27-40-710(B)). Major trap: the notice duty is satisfied for the whole tenancy after ONE such notice, or if the lease contains the statute's conspicuous 'you will get no other notice as long as you live in this rental unit' language — then no separate 5-day notice is needed before filing |
| Notice for a lease violation | 14 days to cure. For a non-rent breach, the landlord delivers written notice specifying the acts and omissions; the tenancy ends no sooner than 14 days after receipt unless the tenant remedies it within 14 days — or, if the fix cannot be finished in 14 days, begins it within that period and pursues it in good faith (§ 27-40-710(A)). A health-and-safety breach follows the same 14-day cure notice (§ 27-40-720) |
| Unconditional quit (no cure allowed) | No statutory unconditional-quit (no-cure) notice. South Carolina's Act did not adopt the uniform act's repeat-violation no-cure clause; every non-rent breach, however serious, runs through the 14-day cure-or-quit of § 27-40-710(A) (or the § 27-40-720 health-and-safety notice). Abandonment lets the landlord retake possession without notice (§ 27-40-730), but that is not an eviction notice |
| Ending a month-to-month tenancy | 30 days to end a month-to-month tenancy; 7 days for week-to-week — written notice by either party before the termination date stated in the notice (§ 27-40-770(a),(b)). No reason need be given |
| Just cause to evict required? | No statewide just-cause requirement; a periodic tenancy may be ended for no reason on proper notice under § 27-40-770 (some cities or counties may add their own rules — outside this survey's state-law scope) |
| How the notice must be served | Written notice must be delivered so it is 'received': handed in person to the tenant, or mailed by registered or certified mail to the address the tenant holds out (or the last known residence); 'proof of mailing... constitutes notice without proof of receipt' (§ 27-40-240(B)(3)). The nonpayment and lease-violation notices must specify the breach; time is computed under the SC Rules of Civil Procedure (§ 27-40-240(D)) |
| Tenant's right to cure/reinstate | Pay within the 5-day nonpayment window, or remedy a lease breach within the 14-day cure period, to stop termination (§ 27-40-710). The Act sets no post-notice statutory pay-and-stay for nonpayment once the 5 days run. Retaliatory eviction is a defense — a landlord may not bring a possession action because the tenant complained to a housing-code agency or complained to the landlord of an Act violation (§ 27-40-910) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Notice for unpaid rent
If rent is late, "the landlord may terminate the rental agreement provided the
landlord has given the tenant written notice of nonpayment and his intention to
terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within" five days from
the due date (§ 27-40-710(B)). Pay in full within those 5 days and the
termination is stopped.
But South Carolina attaches a catch found in almost no other state. The
landlord's duty to give that 5-day notice "is satisfied for any lease term after
the landlord has given one such notice to the tenant or if the notice is
contained in conspicuous language in a written rental agreement." If your lease
includes the statute's boilerplate — "IF YOU DO NOT PAY YOUR RENT ON TIME... You
will get no other notice as long as you live in this rental unit" — the landlord
never has to send a separate late-rent notice again and can move straight to
filing for eviction. Most South Carolina leases include exactly this clause, so
in practice many tenants get no individual warning at all.
Notice for a lease violation
For a fixable breach that is not about rent, the landlord "may deliver a written
notice to the tenant specifying the acts and omissions constituting the breach"
and stating that the tenancy "will terminate upon a date not less than fourteen
days after receipt of the notice, if the breach is not remedied in fourteen
days" (§ 27-40-710(A)). You keep the tenancy if you fix the problem before the
stated date, or — for a repair that genuinely can't be finished in two weeks — if
you start it within the 14 days and pursue it in good faith. A breach that
"materially affect[s] health and safety" runs on the same 14-day cure clock
(§ 27-40-720).
Unconditional quit (no cure allowed)
South Carolina has no separate "no-cure" eviction notice. The uniform act other
states adopted lets a landlord terminate without a cure chance when the same
violation recurs within six months; South Carolina left that clause out. So even
a serious lease breach goes through the 14-day cure-or-quit of § 27-40-710(A)
(or the § 27-40-720 health-and-safety notice). The one thing that lets a landlord
retake a unit without any notice is abandonment — an unexplained absence for 15
days after a rent default is treated as giving up the unit (§ 27-40-730) — but
that is not an eviction notice served on a tenant who is still living there.
Ending a month-to-month tenancy
Either party may end a month-to-month tenancy "by a written notice given to the
other at least thirty days before the termination date specified in the notice,"
and a week-to-week tenancy on at least 7 days' notice (§ 27-40-770(a),(b)). No
reason is required.
How the notice must be served
A notice is legally effective when the tenant "receives" it, which the Act
defines: "delivered in hand to the tenant or mailed by registered or certified
mail" to the address the tenant holds out, or to the last known residence
(§ 27-40-240(B)(3)). Mailing that way counts even if the tenant never signs for
it — "proof of mailing... constitutes notice without proof of receipt." The
nonpayment and lease-violation notices must "specify" the breach, and deadlines
are counted using the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure (§ 27-40-240(D)).
Tenant's right to cure/reinstate
Your statutory ways to stop the eviction are on the front end: pay within the
5-day nonpayment window, or fix the lease breach within the 14-day cure period
(§ 27-40-710). South Carolina's Act gives no separate "pay everything owed at the
courthouse" right for nonpayment once the 5 days pass. What it does give is a
retaliation defense: a landlord may not "bring[] an action for possession after"
the tenant complained to a housing-code agency or complained to the landlord of
an Act violation (§ 27-40-910).
What trips people up
The "you will get no other notice" lease clause is the big one. Unlike most
states, South Carolina lets a landlord satisfy the entire 5-day-notice
requirement in advance by putting the statute's exact language in the lease. If
your lease has it, do not wait for a late-rent notice that will never come — the
landlord can file for eviction as soon as you are five days late.
Five days is measured from the rent due date, not from any notice. Because
the notice can be pre-satisfied in the lease, the real deadline is simply five
days after rent was due. Count from the due date.
Curing a repair means starting in time, not necessarily finishing. For a
lease-violation notice, a fix that cannot reasonably be completed in 14 days does
not doom the tenancy as long as you begin within the 14 days and pursue it in
good faith to completion within a reasonable time (§ 27-40-710(A)(2)).
Common questions
My lease says I get no other notice if I'm late — is that legal? Yes. South
Carolina's statute expressly lets a landlord meet the 5-day-notice requirement by
including that conspicuous language in the lease (§ 27-40-710(B)). It applies for
the whole tenancy, including after the original lease term rolls to
month-to-month.
Can I stop a nonpayment eviction by paying after the 5 days? Not as a matter
of state law. Paying within the 5-day window stops termination; after that, the
Act provides no guaranteed pay-and-stay. A landlord may agree to accept late
rent, but is not required to.
Can my landlord evict me for no reason? For a month-to-month tenancy, yes —
with at least 30 days' written notice (§ 27-40-770). South Carolina has no
statewide just-cause requirement.
How much notice to fix a broken lease term other than rent? 14 days
(§ 27-40-710(A)). If the repair legitimately needs longer, starting it within the
14 days and finishing in a reasonable time preserves the tenancy.
Statutes and sources
- S.C. Code § 27-40-710 — noncompliance and nonpayment: 14-day cure-or-quit for a lease breach (A); 5-day nonpayment notice and the one-notice / conspicuous-lease-language rule (B).
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php (accessed 2026-07-10) - S.C. Code § 27-40-720 — noncompliance materially affecting health and safety: 14-day cure notice before termination (b).
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php (accessed 2026-07-10) - S.C. Code § 27-40-770 — periodic tenancy: 30-day month-to-month and 7-day week-to-week termination notice.
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php (accessed 2026-07-10) - S.C. Code § 27-40-240 — how a notice is "given" and "received"; personal delivery or registered/certified mail; deadlines computed under the SC Rules of Civil Procedure.
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php (accessed 2026-07-10) - S.C. Code § 27-40-910 — retaliatory conduct prohibited; possession action barred after a code complaint or a complaint to the landlord, available as a defense.
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php (accessed 2026-07-10)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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