Landlord Atlas

What are the security deposit rules in South Carolina?

Verified July 9, 2026 All South Carolina topics →

South Carolina sets no cap on security deposits but requires landlords to return the deposit with a written itemization of any deductions within 30 days after the latest of three events: the tenancy ending, the tenant delivering possession, and the tenant demanding the money back.

A landlord who fails to return the deposit with that notice owes the tenant three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees — with no bad-faith requirement in the statute. Tenants have a matching duty: provide a forwarding address in writing, or forfeit the damages remedy if the landlord mails the refund to the last known address. One rule unique to larger properties: a landlord renting more than four adjoining units who uses different deposit standards for different tenants must post or hand every prospective tenant a statement of how deposits are calculated — otherwise the difference between that tenant's deposit and the lowest deposit charged for a comparable unit is immune from damage deductions. There is no escrow, separate-account, or interest requirement.

South Carolina security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit No statutory cap
Return deadline 30 days
Deadline conditions Within 30 days after the LATEST of three events: termination of the tenancy, delivery of possession, and demand by the tenant — SC 27-40-410(a) says 'within thirty days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession and demand by the tenant, whichever is later.' The tenant-demand element is part of the statutory text and routinely omitted by secondary sources, which start the clock at move-out or key return. The tenant must provide a forwarding or new address in writing; a tenant who fails to do so loses the right to damages under subsection (a) if the landlord (1) had no notice of the tenant's whereabouts and (2) mailed the written notice and any amount due to the tenant's last known address.
Itemization required Yes
Itemization rules Any deduction from the security/rental deposit must be itemized by the landlord in a written notice to the tenant together with the amount due, if any, within the 30-day window (27-40-410(a)). Deductions are limited to accrued rent and damages the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with 27-40-510 (the tenant's maintenance obligations).
Separate account required No
Interest owed to tenant No
Account & interest rules No escrow, trust-account, or interest requirement exists anywhere in chapter 40 (negative check run against the full chapter). Fifty-state charts that import other states' escrow or interest rules into South Carolina are wrong.
Pet deposits No pet-deposit statute exists. A pet deposit is part of the 'security/rental deposit' scheme of 27-40-410 — same 30-day return, itemization, and 3x-penalty rules; no separate cap or treatment.
Non-refundable fees allowed Not addressed by statute
Penalty for violation If the landlord fails to return any prepaid rent or security/rental deposit with the required subsection (a) notice, the tenant may recover the property and money 'in an amount equal to three times the amount wrongfully withheld and reasonable attorney's fees' (27-40-410(b)). The statutory text contains NO bad-faith element and is a flat treble measure on the amount wrongfully withheld — sources that say South Carolina has no deposit penalty, or that soften it to 'up to 3x if the landlord acts in bad faith,' are both misreading the section. The forwarding-address failure described in subsection (a) is the one statutory escape hatch.
Tenant forwarding-address duty Affirmative statutory duty — unusual among states: 'The tenant shall provide the landlord in writing with a forwarding address or new address' (27-40-410(a)). Failure forfeits subsection (a) damages if the landlord had no notice of the tenant's whereabouts and mailed the notice and refund to the last known address.

Notes and caveats

Encoding decisions: max_deposit is null because chapter 40 contains no cap of any kind (negative check run against the full chapter both reads). The three-trigger 30-day clock including tenant demand is encoded in return_deadline_conditions because nearly every secondary source misstates it as '30 days after move-out/key return.' Three live traps debunked: (1) the 'up to 3x only for bad-faith retention' framing — 27-40-410(b) is a flat 3x with no bad-faith element; (2) claims that SC has NO deposit penalty — false, (b) is explicit; (3) an 'estimated accounting within 30 days, final within 60 days' rule appearing in landlord guides — that is North Carolina's G.S. 42-52 procedure imported into SC by mistake; no such provision exists in chapter 40. The more-than-four-adjoining-units posting rule of 27-40-410(c) applies only where the landlord imposes DIFFERENT deposit standards on the premises; its sanction is deduction immunity for the differential, not a fine. nonrefundable_fees_allowed is null: the chapter neither authorizes nor prohibits nonrefundable fees, and 27-40-210(11) excludes 'security deposits or other charges' from rent — a lease-drafting question, not a statutory one.

Statute citations

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official South Carolina Legislature site (scstatehouse.gov), Code of Laws Title 27: sections 27-40-410, 27-40-530, 27-40-770, 27-40-710, 27-40-310, 27-40-120, and 27-39-60 each read twice in independent fetches with all load-bearing figures matching verbatim (30-day deposit deadline and its three-trigger clause, 3x penalty, more-than-four-adjoining-units posting rule, 24-hour entry notice, 9-6 and 8-8 no-notice service windows, 30-day/7-day periodic termination notice, 5-day nonpayment cure). Also read once: 27-40-720 and 27-40-730 (cross-referenced access rights), 27-40-210(11) rent definition, 27-40-10 and 27-40-110 (short title, statewide territorial application). Negative checks run against the full chapter text: no deposit cap, no escrow/trust requirement, no deposit interest, no late-fee amount or grace-period regulation. Pending-bill check 2026-07-09: H. 3346 (Rent Control Act) and H. 3569 (DV early termination) both died at sine die adjournment 2026-05-14 (H. 3346 never left House LCI committee); the post-sine-die special session was limited to redistricting and the budget.