South Carolina Mobile Home Park Eviction Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Nonpayment of rent in a South Carolina manufactured home park

Under the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, unpaid lot rent is its own statutory ground for eviction. Section 27-47-530(A)(4) lets you evict for not paying rent within five days of its due date. In practice that means the resident has a five-day window from the due date before you can move on nonpayment — there is no long grace period baked into the Act.

Because the park act is supplemented by South Carolina's general Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (§27-47-110), the notice mechanics come from §27-40-710(B): you must give written notice of the five-day rule, but that obligation is satisfied for the entire tenancy once you give one such notice OR state the five-day language conspicuously in the written lease. Put it in your lease and you never have to serve a separate nonpayment demand again.

Do not rely on the thirty-day notice figure you may see floating around online for nonpayment — it is not in Chapter 47. The controlling number for nonpayment is five days.

Lease and rule violations, and other grounds

For a violation of the rental agreement or park regulations, §27-47-530(A)(3) requires written notice and a 14-day period to cure: eviction is allowed only after failure to remedy the violation within fourteen days after written notice by the owner. If the fix legitimately takes longer than fourteen days, the statute lets you extend the deadline in good faith to a specified date. The general RLTA (§27-40-710(A)) mirrors this with a 14-day remediable-breach notice, so 14 days — not 30 — is the cure period for lot tenancies.

The Act limits eviction to eight enumerated grounds in §27-47-530(A): code/law noncompliance after written notice and a reasonable chance to remedy; repeated conduct interfering with other residents' quiet enjoyment; the 14-day lease/rule violation; nonpayment within five days; noncompliance affecting health, safety, welfare, or the physical condition of the park; willfully false statements in the application or agreement; eminent-domain taking of the park; and any other reason sufficient under common law.

The health/safety ground is the accelerated track: it is the one exception to the 10-day post-verdict hold on the writ, so genuine health-and-safety cases can move fastest. Keep dated copies of every written notice, because the code-violation and lease-violation grounds both hinge on proving you gave notice and a real opportunity to cure.

Filing an eviction (ejectment) in South Carolina

South Carolina calls the eviction lawsuit ejectment, and it is filed in the magistrate's court under Title 27, Chapter 37. You file an Application for Ejectment; the magistrate then issues a Rule to Vacate (also called a Rule to Show Cause) that must be served on the resident. Make sure service is properly documented, because defective service is a common reason cases get restarted.

Once served, the resident has 10 days to answer the charges or demand a hearing. If the resident does not respond, the magistrate may order a writ of ejectment; if the resident contests, the magistrate holds a hearing before ruling.

For manufactured-home lots there is an extra protection to plan around: §27-47-530(B) says a writ of ejectment may not issue until ten days after a verdict for the plaintiff, except in health/safety cases under (A)(5). So even after you win, budget another ten days before the writ can issue in an ordinary case.

What happens to the home (South Carolina specifics)

This is the point operators most often get wrong: the resident owns the manufactured home. You are evicting them from the lot, not seizing the home, so self-help disposal is never lawful. The Act sets out the exact process instead.

Under §27-47-530(C), if a manufactured home remains on the lot twenty days after the resident has been evicted, you may commence the §29-15-10 procedure to sell it in a commercially reasonable sale at public auction. The resident is not prohibited from moving the home before the day of the sale — but if they do, they must pay any filing fee or advertising costs you have already incurred to start the §29-15-10 process.

Stack the windows together and you can see the real holding period: roughly ten days after a verdict before the writ issues, then the eviction, then a further twenty days on the lot before you can even begin the auction process. South Carolina deliberately gives manufactured-home residents extra time because moving a home is expensive and slow, so plan your carrying costs accordingly.

Typical timeline in South Carolina

• Rent due, then a 5-day window
  Section 27-47-530(A)(4) makes nonpayment a ground only once rent is not paid within five days of its due date.
• Written notice / cure period
  Nonpayment: the 5-day rule, satisfied by one notice or a conspicuous lease clause (§27-40-710(B)). Lease/park-rule violation: 14 days to cure after written notice (§27-47-530(A)(3)).
• File ejectment in magistrate's court
  Owner files an Application for Ejectment under Title 27, Chapter 37; the magistrate issues a Rule to Vacate / Rule to Show Cause.
• Resident's 10 days to respond
  After service, the resident has 10 days to answer the charges or demand a hearing before the court can proceed to a writ.
• Verdict, then a 10-day writ hold
  Section 27-47-530(B): a writ of ejectment may not issue until ten days after a verdict for the plaintiff, except health/safety evictions under (A)(5).
• 20-day window before the home can be sold
  Section 27-47-530(C): if the home stays 20 days after eviction, the owner may start the §29-15-10 public-auction process; the resident can move it first but pays filing/advertising costs.

Operator best practices in South Carolina

• Put the 5-day nonpayment notice in the lease
  Section 27-40-710(B) lets a conspicuous lease clause satisfy the nonpayment-notice requirement for the whole term — write it once and skip serving separate demands.
• Document every written notice and cure period
  Grounds (1) and (3) of §27-47-530(A) require written notice plus a real chance to cure (14 days) — keep dated copies to survive a contested hearing.
• Never use self-help on the home
  The resident owns the home; only a resident-arranged move or the §29-15-10 auction after the 20-day window (§27-47-530(C)) is lawful. Disposing of it yourself invites liability.
• Budget for the statutory holds
  Plan carrying costs around the 10-day post-verdict writ hold and the 20-day pre-sale window — South Carolina builds in extra time for manufactured-home residents.
• Use cash-for-keys as a faster exit
  Offering money for a signed, dated voluntary move-out is common market practice and is often cheaper and quicker than running the full ejectment-plus-auction track.
• Build a relationship with a South Carolina MHP attorney
  Chapter 47 interlocks with the general RLTA (§27-47-110) and the Title 27, Chapter 37 ejectment rules, and magistrate practice varies by county — a South Carolina MHP attorney keeps your filings clean and your timelines realistic.