Landlord Atlas

South Carolina Mobile Home Park Laws

Verified August 19, 2026 All South Carolina topics →

South Carolina's Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, S.C. Code Ann. Sections 27-47-10 through 27-47-620, governs the tenancy of a resident who owns a manufactured home and rents a lot in a park where five or more lots are offered for rent, and its headline rules are a mandatory written lease that must state the grounds for eviction, at least 30 days' notice before a new lot-rent rate takes effect, and a list of eight reasons for eviction that ends with any other reason sufficient at common law, so an owner who declines to renew at the end of a term is not confined to the list.

Cited to S.C. Code Ann. Title 27, Chapter 47 (Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act) and 5 more sources · Verified August 19, 2026

The listed reasons run from nonpayment of rent five days past its due date and an unremedied breach of the agreement or park rules after 14 days, through repeated conduct that disturbs other residents, to a taking of the park by eminent domain. A resident may sell the home where it stands: the buyer may become a resident with the owner's approval, approval may not be withheld unreasonably, and an application the owner leaves unanswered for 15 days is approved. There is no ceiling on lot-rent increases and counties and cities may not set one. The act has no park-closure or change-of-use statute, no relocation money, no advance notice that a park is for sale and no resident right to buy the park; a new owner must simply tell residents of the change in ownership within 30 days after the closing. Lot deposits come back within 30 days with any deduction itemized in writing, and a wrongful withholding costs three times the amount plus attorney's fees. No state agency administers the act; disputes go to the magistrate and circuit courts, and the general residential landlord and tenant act fills the gaps where it does not conflict with the act.

Governing actSouth Carolina Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act — S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-47-10 through 27-47-620
General law that also appliesSouth Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-40-10 through 27-40-940
Federal lender protections already required by state law3 of 8 (see the table)

Each row below is a state rule (with its citation) or an honest "no state rule" with what governs instead — lease terms and the general landlord-tenant law still apply where the park act is silent. This page covers a resident who owns the home and rents the lot; a home rented from the park is an ordinary South Carolina tenancy.

On this page: Scope · Lot rent, fees and utilities · Lease, rules and disclosure · Termination and eviction · Closure and change of use · Sale of the park · The resident's home · Federal lender protections · Common questions · Citations

A. Scope — who and what the act covers

Rule South Carolina law Source
State agency with a role in park tenancies No state rule No South Carolina agency administers park tenancies; disputes go to court. The act sends jurisdiction and service of process to the general residential landlord and tenant act, which gives the circuit courts and the magistrate courts concurrent jurisdiction over a landlord for conduct the law governs. There is no registry, ombudsman, complaint program or fund for lot tenancies. The Manufactured Housing Board at the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation is a licensing body for manufacturers, retail dealers, sales persons, contractors, installers and repairers, and has no role in the relationship between a park owner and a resident. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-130; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-130 (a); S.C. Code Ann. § 40-29-5
Resident may sue under the act Yes A resident may sue under the act. The act's own remedy is for the lot security deposit: an owner who does not return money due owes three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees. The general residential landlord and tenant act, which applies to park tenancies where it is not inconsistent with the act, makes any right or obligation it declares enforceable by action and lets a tenant recover actual damages and obtain injunctive relief in a magistrate's or circuit court without posting bond. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-520; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-50 (b); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-610 (b)
Minimum park size for the act to apply (lots) 5 lots The act reaches a park only where five or more lots are offered for rent or lease. A tenancy at a park with fewer than five such lots is expressly outside the act, and the act's statement of purpose describes the same five-lot line. Where the act does not apply, the general residential landlord and tenant act and the terms of the lease govern. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-120 (3); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-20 (B)(1)
Other size thresholds that switch rules on No state rule Five lots is the only size line in the act. No section switches an extra rule on at a larger park size, and the exclusions section sets no other threshold. Every rule in the act applies the same way to a five-lot park and a five-hundred-lot park. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-120
Park-owned rental homes Ordinary landlord-tenant law applies Renting the home as well as the lot takes the tenancy out of the act. The act expressly does not govern a tenancy in which both a manufactured home and the lot are rented or leased by the resident. Those tenancies sit under the general residential landlord and tenant act, whose definition of a dwelling unit includes landlord-owned mobile homes. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-120 (1); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-210 (3)
RVs and park-model homes Excluded Recreational vehicles are outside the act. The act does not govern a tenancy in which the rental space is offered for occupancy by a vehicle primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational camping or travel that has its own motor power or is mounted on or drawn by another vehicle. The homes the act does cover are structures at least eight body feet wide or forty body feet long, or 320 square feet or more when erected on site, built on a permanent chassis. Park-model homes are not named separately, so which side of the line one falls on depends on those two definitions. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-120 (2); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-210 (1)
Local rent regulation of park lots Preempted — local governments may not regulate lot rents South Carolina bars local governments from regulating rents. A statewide statute forbids any county or municipal corporation from enacting, maintaining or enforcing an ordinance or resolution that would regulate in any way the amount of rent charged for privately owned single-family or multiple-unit residential or commercial rental property, which is the class a rented park lot falls in. Two things are left open: property the county or municipality itself owns, and voluntary agreements it makes with private owners about rent. The act itself says nothing about local regulation of lot rents. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-39-60; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420

B. Lot rent, fees and utilities

Rule South Carolina law Source
Notice before a lot-rent increase 30 days A new lot-rent rate takes at least 30 days' advance notice. The notice rule is written for a tenancy that is to continue beyond its original term, which is when a new rate can take effect; within a stated term the rent is the figure the written agreement states, and the rent for any renewal option must also be stated in the agreement. A resident then has 30 days from that notice to tell the owner in writing whether the tenancy will continue. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-510 (5); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (C), (D)(2)
How often rent may be raised No state rule The act does not limit how often lot rent may be raised. What it does instead is tie a new rate to a tenancy continuing beyond its original term, on 30 days' notice, and require the written agreement to state the monthly rate, the duration of the lease and the rent payable during any renewal option. So the length of the agreed term, rather than a statutory frequency rule, is what fixes how often the rate can change. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (B), (C), (D)(2)
Statewide limit on lot-rent increases No state rule South Carolina sets no ceiling on how much lot rent may rise. The act's only rent-increase provision is the 30 days' notice; it fixes no percentage, formula, index or reasonableness standard, and no other section limits the amount. A local ceiling is not available either, because a statewide statute bars counties and municipalities from regulating the rent charged for privately owned residential and commercial rental property. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-39-60
How a resident can challenge an increase No state rule There is no process for contesting the size of a lot-rent increase. The act creates no mediation, arbitration, petition or hearing, and no agency reviews an increase. What a resident can raise in court are the act's general standards: every duty under the act carries an obligation of good faith, an agreement or a term found unconscionable when made may be refused enforcement or limited, and the general residential landlord and tenant act bars raising rent above fair-market value in retaliation for a protected complaint. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-220; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-230; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-910 (a)
Entrance fee prohibited No state rule The act does not prohibit an entrance fee. It requires instead that every amount the resident is to pay be set out in the written rental agreement, naming security deposits, service fees and installation charges as examples. Statutory silence is not permission: what the act supplies here is a disclosure duty, not an allowance. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(7)
Exit or removal fee prohibited No state rule The act does not prohibit an exit or removal fee. No section addresses a charge for leaving the park or for taking the home off the lot. The one removal cost the act does allocate arises after an eviction: a resident who moves the home before an auction sale must pay any filing fee or advertising cost already incurred in starting that sale. All charges the resident is to pay must be stated in the written agreement. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(7); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (C)
Undisclosed fees uncollectible No state rule The act does not say that an undisclosed charge cannot be collected. It requires the written agreement to state the amounts payable by the resident, and it bars one particular mid-term change: during the rental agreement the owner may not start charging a user fee for a service or amenity that was previously provided and included in the lot rental amount unless the lot rental amount falls correspondingly. No section attaches a consequence to a charge that was never disclosed. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(7), (E)
Utility billing rules No state rule The act sets no rules for billing residents for utilities. Its only utility provision is a maintenance duty: the park owner must keep the utility connections and systems in proper working condition. Through the act's link to the general residential landlord and tenant act, an owner who supplies water, heat or other services must make running water and reasonable amounts of hot water and heat available and keep the systems in good and safe working order, and those services count as essential services there. Rates, markups, administrative charges and billing statements are left to the rental agreement. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-450; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-440 (a)(4), (a)(5); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-210 (17)
Submetering required or regulated No state rule Nothing in the act addresses submetering or individual meters. Metering is neither required nor regulated, and no section sets rules for a bill based on a submeter reading. The section that would carry such a rule is the owner's duty to keep the utility connections and systems in proper working condition. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-450
Lot security deposit rules A lot security deposit and any prepaid rent must be returned when the tenancy ends, less accrued rent and damages caused by the resident's noncompliance, and any deduction must be itemized in a written notice to the resident within 30 days after the tenancy ends. A deposit must come back within 30 days, with any deduction itemized in writing. The resident has to give the owner a forwarding address; an owner who has no notice of the resident's address and mails the notice to the last known address is not liable for damages. An owner who does not return money due owes three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees. The act sets no ceiling on the size of a lot deposit. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-520; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(7)

C. Lease, rules and disclosure

Rule South Carolina law Source
Written lease Required A written lease is mandatory. An owner who offers a space in a park must give the resident an agreement in writing containing the terms on which the space is leased, and the act's definition of a rental agreement is itself a written mutual understanding or lease. The duration must be stated and may be any length the two sides agree on. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (A), (B); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-210 (5)
Minimum lease term that must be offered No state rule No minimum lease term has to be offered. The act requires the duration of the lease to be stated in the written agreement and leaves the length to what the owner and the resident agree on, so a one-year term is neither required nor the default. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (B)
Notice to end a tenancy without cause No state rule The act sets no notice period for ending a lot tenancy without cause. It requires the written agreement itself to state the notice needed to exercise a renewal option or to end the tenancy, and it gives a resident 30 days to answer a notice of a new rental rate. Where a lot tenancy is running month to month and the agreement is silent, the general residential landlord and tenant act's rule applies through the act: either side may end a month-to-month tenancy on at least 30 days' written notice. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(11); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-510 (5); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-770 (b)
Notice before park rules change 30 days A change in the park's aesthetic standards takes at least 30 days' notice. New or upgraded aesthetic standards must apply generally to homes in the park, and they can take effect only when the lease term expires or the tenancy continues beyond its original term. During a term a resident may not be forced to make an aesthetic change to the home's original design that would create undue financial hardship and is contrary to the agreement, and the owner carries the burden of proving that a home is unsafe or unsanitary or fails the park's aesthetic standards. For other park regulations adopted after a resident signs, the general residential landlord and tenant act lets the resident object in writing within 30 days where the new rule substantially modifies the bargain. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(6); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-520 (b)
Disclosure document Written rules and terms must be given The written lease is the disclosure document, and the act lists what it must contain. Eleven items are required: the location and approximate size of the lot, the monthly rental rate, the date and place of payment, the personal property, services and facilities the owner provides, the regulations governing residency which if violated may be cause for eviction, a statement of amounts to be paid by the resident, the improvements the resident may make and any required of the resident, restrictions on pets, children, number of occupants and vehicle storage, and the notice required to exercise a renewal option or to end the tenancy. There is no state-drafted form. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)
Residents' right to meet and organize No state rule The act does not protect meeting or organizing in the park. No section gives residents a right to hold meetings, form an association or use a common building for that purpose, and the general act's retaliation section does not list organizing among the protected activities. The nearest provision is the owner's duty to provide access to the park's common areas at reasonable times for residents and their guests. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-450; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-910 (a)
Owner entry onto the lot or into the home No state rule The act sets no rule for a park owner entering a resident's lot or home. The general residential landlord and tenant act, which applies to park tenancies where it is not inconsistent with the act, requires at least 24 hours' notice of an intent to enter and entry only at reasonable times, allows entry without consent only in an emergency, for regularly scheduled services set out in the agreement between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., or for services the tenant asked for between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and bars abusing the right of access or using it to harass. Those rules are written around a landlord-owned dwelling, and the home on a rented lot belongs to the resident. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-530 (b), (c)
Retaliation prohibited Yes Retaliation is prohibited. Through the act's link to the general residential landlord and tenant act, an owner may not raise rent above fair-market value, cut essential services or bring an action for possession because the resident complained to a government agency responsible for enforcing a building or housing code about a violation materially affecting health and safety, or complained to the owner about a violation of that act. A resident who is retaliated against has a defense in an action for possession and may recover up to three months' rent or treble actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney's fees; where the retaliation takes the form of refusing to renew, the owner may not recover possession for 75 days. Possession is still available where the code violation was caused by the resident's own lack of reasonable care, where the resident is in material noncompliance, or where compliance requires work that would deprive the resident of the use of the home. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-910 (a), (c), (g), (h)

D. Termination and eviction

Rule South Carolina law Source
Just cause required to end a tenancy No South Carolina is not a just-cause state, although the act lists eight reasons for eviction. The eighth is any other reason sufficient at common law, and at common law the expiry of a stated lease term is itself a sufficient reason for possession; the act also does not require an owner to renew when the stated term ends, leaving the notice for exercising a renewal option or ending the tenancy to the written agreement. The listed reasons still matter during a term: an owner may evict a resident mid-term only for one of them, and two carry their own cure periods. Except where the ground is a health, safety or welfare violation, a writ of ejectment may not issue until ten days after a verdict for the owner. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A), (B); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (D)(11)
Grounds for termination
  • Failure to comply with local, state or federal laws governing manufactured homes, after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy.
  • Repeated conduct that interferes with other residents' quiet enjoyment of the park.
  • Breach of the rental agreement or park regulations, not remedied within 14 days after written notice.
  • Rent not paid within five days of its due date.
  • Noncompliance with a law, the agreement or park regulations affecting the health, safety or welfare of other residents, or the physical condition of the park.
  • Knowingly making a false or misleading statement in the rental agreement or application.
  • Taking of the park, or the part of it affecting the resident's lot, by eminent domain.
  • Any other reason sufficient at common law.
These are the eight reasons the act lists for eviction. Two of them carry their own cure periods: a violation of the agreement or park regulations gives 14 days after written notice, which the owner may extend in good faith to a specified date where the remedy takes longer, and a violation of laws governing manufactured homes requires written notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy. The last item leaves room for the ordinary common-law reasons, including the end of a stated lease term. 		S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A)(1)-(8)
Notice for nonpayment of lot rent 5 days Rent unpaid five days after its due date is a ground for eviction. The act states the ground as a period rather than as a notice: the owner may evict for not paying rent within five days of the due date. Through the act's link to the general residential landlord and tenant act, the owner must have given written notice of the nonpayment and of the intention to end the agreement if the rent is not paid within that period, and that requirement is satisfied for later terms once one such notice has been given or where the written agreement itself carries the warning in conspicuous language. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A)(4); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-710 (B)
Notice for a rule or lease violation 14 days A violation of the rental agreement or park regulations gives 14 days to fix it. The clock runs from written notice by the owner, and where the remedy takes longer than 14 days the owner may allow the resident in good faith to extend the time to a specified date. A violation of laws governing manufactured homes has no fixed period: it takes written notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A)(3), (A)(1)
Repeat-violation rule Repeated conduct that interferes with other residents' quiet enjoyment of the park is a ground for eviction in its own right, and the act attaches no notice or cure period to it. Repetition is itself a ground. Unlike a breach of the agreement or park regulations, which carries a 14-day cure period, and unlike a violation of laws governing manufactured homes, which carries written notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy, the repeated-conduct ground stands alone in the list with no statutory cure step. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A)(2)
Time to sell or remove the home after termination 20 days A home left on the lot may be sold at auction 20 days after the resident is evicted. Once those 20 days pass, the owner may start the state's lien-sale procedure to sell the home in a commercially reasonable sale at public auction. The resident may still move the home at any time before the day of the sale, but must pay any filing fee or advertising costs already incurred in starting the sale. The act gives no separate period in which a resident may sell the home in place after an eviction. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (C)
Abandoned-home procedure Yes There is a procedure for a home left behind. Where a manufactured home remains on the lot 20 days after the resident has been evicted, the owner may begin the state's lien-sale procedure and sell it in a commercially reasonable sale at public auction, with the resident free to move it before the sale day on paying the filing and advertising costs. Through the act's link to the general residential landlord and tenant act, an unexplained absence of 15 days after a default in rent counts as abandonment, immediately so where the resident has voluntarily cut off the utilities, and other property left behind is removed under the state's ejectment procedures. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (C); S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-730 (a), (b), (e)
Mediation or dispute-resolution requirement No state rule The act requires no mediation or other dispute-resolution step. There is no conciliation body, no pre-suit process and no hearing before an agency. Claims arising from a lot tenancy go to the magistrate courts and the circuit courts, and the eviction section sets out the grounds and notices without any intermediate stage. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-130; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530

E. Closure and change of use

Rule South Carolina law Source
Notice before closure or change of use No state rule South Carolina sets no notice period for closing a park or changing its use. The act has no closure or conversion section at all: the article headed for the sale of a park and rezoning carries only an after-the-fact notice of a change in ownership and a five-day posting at the park before a hearing on a rezoning the owner has applied for. The closest the act comes to closure is an eviction ground for the taking of the park, or the part of it affecting the resident's lot, by eminent domain. What governs otherwise is the term of the written agreement and the notice it states for ending the tenancy. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530 (A)(7)
Variants (by trigger or park size) No state rule There are no closure variants, because there is no closure rule to vary. Nothing in the act turns on the reason for a closure, the size of the park or the kind of redevelopment planned. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620
Relocation payment required No state rule No relocation payment is required when a park closes or a tenancy ends. The act creates no moving allowance, no hardship payment and no state fund, and it says nothing about who bears the cost of moving a home. The termination section, including its eminent domain ground, and the article on the sale of a park are the sections that would carry such a rule. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Relocation amounts No state rule No amounts are set, because the act requires no relocation payment. There is no figure, no index and no published annual number for lot tenancies in South Carolina. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530
Who pays relocation None required No one is required to pay relocation costs. The act imposes no payment on the park owner and creates no state fund, so a resident who has to move a home bears the cost unless the rental agreement says otherwise. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Notice to a government body on closure No state rule No notice to a city, county or state body is required when a park closes. The act creates no filing, permit or report on closure. Its only provision touching a public process runs the other way: an owner who applies to have the park rezoned must post notice of the proposed rezoning at the park at least five days before the public hearing. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620

F. Sale of the park

Rule South Carolina law Source
Residents must be told the park is for sale Yes Residents are told of a sale only after it closes. The act requires no notice while a park is on the market or under contract, and no notice before a closing; where a park is sold and continues to operate as a park, the new owner must tell residents of the change in ownership within 30 days after the closing. No notice is required where the park does not continue as a park. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
What triggers the notice A completed sale of a park that continues to operate as a park: the new owner must notify residents of the change in ownership within 30 days after the date of closing. The trigger is the closing, not the listing. The duty falls on the buyer rather than the seller, and it is a notice of who now owns the park rather than a notice that a sale is coming. Nothing is required where the park does not continue to operate as a park. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Residents' purchase right None required Residents have no right to buy the park. There is no right of first refusal, no opportunity to negotiate, no notice-and-offer window and no right arising on closure. The article headed for the sale of a park delivers only the after-the-fact notice of a change in ownership and the rezoning posting. The right the act does protect is the resident's own sale of the home on the lot, which is a different thing. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620
Time for residents to respond No state rule There is no response window, because residents have no statutory chance to buy the park. The act sets no period in which residents or an association may make an offer or match one. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Resident-association threshold No state rule No association threshold exists in the act. A residents' association or homeowners' organization is never mentioned, so no share of residents has to join one for any right to arise. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620
Transfers exempt from the sale rules No state rule There is no list of exempt transfers, because there are no pre-sale duties to be exempt from. The only condition inside the act's sale provision is that the park continues to operate as a park; where it does not, even the after-the-fact ownership notice is not required. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Residents may assign the right to a nonprofit or municipality No state rule There is no right to assign to a nonprofit or a municipality, because there is no purchase right to assign. The act gives residents no interest in a sale of the park that could be passed to anyone else. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610
Penalty for violating the sale rules No state rule No penalty is attached to the sale-notice rule. The act sets no fine, no fixed damages and no invalidation of the sale where a new owner fails to tell residents of the change in ownership. The general route is the one the residential landlord and tenant act provides: a right or obligation declared by that act is enforceable by action, and a resident may recover actual damages. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-110; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-50 (b)

G. The resident's home

Rule South Carolina law Source
Right to sell the home in place Yes A resident may sell the home where it stands. The act provides the route: the buyer of a manufactured home may become a resident of the park with the owner's approval, and approval must not be withheld unreasonably. Two limits sit alongside it. The purchaser carries the burden of proving that an approval or disapproval was unreasonable, and no section bars an owner from requiring a home to be removed, so the protection works through the buyer-approval standard rather than through an express ban on forced removal. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440 (A)
Park may not take a commission on the sale No state rule The act does not bar a park from taking a commission or a transfer charge on the sale of a home. The section on approving a purchaser says nothing about money, and the only fee restriction in the act stops an owner from charging a user fee during the agreement for a service or amenity that was previously included in the lot rental amount. Any charge a resident is to pay must be stated in the written agreement. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310 (E), (D)(7)
Park may screen the buyer Yes A park may screen the buyer. The purchaser of a manufactured home may not become a resident of the park without the owner's approval, so a sale of the home does not by itself carry the lot tenancy to the buyer. The approval is bounded: it must not be withheld unreasonably and it must be answered within 15 days. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440 (A), (B)
Buyer-approval standard and deadline Approval may not be withheld unreasonably, and the owner has 15 days after receiving the purchaser's written application to give written notice of approval or disapproval; if the owner does not act within those 15 days, the application is approved. The standard is reasonableness, with a 15-day clock and silence counting as approval. Notice is complete when it is deposited in the mail addressed to the purchaser at the address given in the application. The purchaser carries the burden of proof on whether an approval or disapproval was unreasonable. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440 (A), (B)
Home may not be rejected for age, size or style alone No state rule The act does not bar rejecting a home for its age, size or style. What it does instead is put the burden on the park owner to prove that a home in the park is unsafe or unsanitary or fails the park's aesthetic standards, and bar forcing a resident during the term to make an aesthetic change to the home's original design that would create undue financial hardship and is contrary to the rental agreement. That is a condition and appearance test applied to a home already on a lot, not a rule about the homes a park must accept. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430
Park may require repairs before sale No state rule The act neither allows nor forbids conditioning a sale on repairs to the home. The buyer-approval section is about the purchaser, not the home's condition. Separately, a park may require compliance with new or upgraded aesthetic standards that apply generally to homes in the park, on at least 30 days' notice and only when a lease term expires or a tenancy continues beyond its original term, with the owner carrying the burden of proving that a home is unsafe, unsanitary or short of those standards. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430
Right to post a For Sale sign No state rule The act gives no right to post a for-sale sign. No section mentions signs, and no South Carolina regulation covers park tenancies, so whether a sign may be posted on the lot or in a window is left to the park's rules and the written agreement. The sections that would carry such a right are the ones on aesthetic standards and on approving a purchaser. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440

H. The eight federal lender protections — which ones South Carolina law already requires

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require eight tenant site lease protections in every manufactured housing community loan they buy. Where state law already requires a protection of every park, a resident has it whether or not the park has agency financing. South Carolina law requires 3 of 8. All 50 states are compared in our research study, including the 2018 federal survey baseline.

ProtectionSouth Carolina lawBasis
One-year renewable lease term unless there is good cause for non-renewal Not required Neither limb. The act lists eight reasons for eviction, but the last is any other reason sufficient at common law, which covers the expiry of a stated term, and nothing restricts an owner from declining to renew, so tenure is not confined to listed causes. No one-year term has to be offered or applies by default: the lease duration is whatever the two sides agree on. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-310)
30-day written notice of rent increases Required A resident must be given notice at least 30 days in advance of the effective date of a new rental rate where the tenancy is to continue beyond its original term, and that applies to every park the act covers. The section does not use the word written; the form of notice comes from the act's notice section. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-420; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-240)
5-day grace period for rent payments and the right to cure defaults on rent payments Partly The cure limb is met and the grace limb is not. Rent is not a ground for eviction until it has been unpaid for five days after its due date, and paying within the period stated in the nonpayment notice keeps the agreement alive, but no statute bars a late fee during those five days. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-710)
Right to sell the manufactured home without having to first relocate it out of the community Required The act provides for the buyer of a home to become a resident of the park, with approval not to be withheld unreasonably and silence for 15 days counting as approval, so a sale does not require the home to be moved out. The act has no express bar on requiring removal on a sale, and the purchaser carries the burden of proving that a refusal was unreasonable. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440)
Right to sell the manufactured home in place within 30 days after eviction by the community owner Not required There is no right to sell the home in place after an eviction. The act gives 20 days after the eviction before the owner may start a public auction of a home still on the lot, and lets the resident move the home before the sale day on paying the filing and advertising costs. That is a removal window, shorter than 30 days, and not a right of sale. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-530)
Right to sublease or assign the pad site lease for the unexpired term to the new buyer of the home without unreasonable restraint Required The buyer of the home may become a resident of the park, approval must not be withheld unreasonably, the owner must give written notice of approval or disapproval within 15 days of the written application, and an application the owner does not act on within 15 days is approved. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440)
Right to post "For Sale" signs that comply with the community's rules Not required Nothing in the act protects a for-sale sign, and South Carolina has no regulation covering park tenancies that could supply one. Signs are left to the park's rules and the written agreement. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-430; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-440)
Right to receive at least 60 days' notice of a planned sale or closure of the community Not required Neither limb. Residents get no notice before a park is sold, only a notice from the new owner within 30 days after the closing, and the act has no closure or change-of-use notice at all. (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-610; S.C. Code Ann. § 27-47-620)

Notes and caveats

Common questions: South Carolina mobile home park law

Each answer is the verified value from the tables above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much notice must a South Carolina park give before raising lot rent?
30 days. A new lot-rent rate takes at least 30 days' advance notice.
Is there a limit on how much lot rent can go up in South Carolina?
South Carolina sets no state rule on this. South Carolina sets no ceiling on how much lot rent may rise.
Can a South Carolina park owner end a lot tenancy without cause?
Yes — South Carolina law does not require a cause. South Carolina is not a just-cause state, although the act lists eight reasons for eviction.
How much notice must a South Carolina park give before closing or changing use?
South Carolina sets no state rule on this. South Carolina sets no notice period for closing a park or changing its use.
Does a South Carolina park have to pay residents' relocation costs when it closes?
South Carolina sets no state rule on this. No relocation payment is required when a park closes or a tenancy ends.
Do South Carolina residents get a chance to buy the park when it is sold?
No — South Carolina law gives residents no right to buy the park. Residents have no right to buy the park.
Can a South Carolina resident sell the home in place without moving it out of the park?
Yes — a South Carolina resident may sell the home in place. A resident may sell the home where it stands.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, South Carolina Mobile Home Park Laws (verified August 19, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/mobile-home-parks/south-carolina/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

Every row above links the section it rests on. This topic covers all 50 states; the topic hub compares them side by side.