Just cause eviction rules in Dorchester County, SC — sometimes called tenant protection or "for cause" eviction ordinances — list the specific legal reasons a landlord can end a tenancy.
South Carolina has no just-cause eviction law, and Dorchester County adds none. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act lets a landlord end a month-to-month tenancy for any reason with 30 days' notice, and evict for nonpayment on a five-day notice under Section 27-40-710. Self-help lockouts remain illegal.
Dorchester County follows the state's landlord-friendly eviction rules with no local overlay. Under the S.C. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, a landlord needs no cause to end a month-to-month tenancy; 30 days' written notice under Section 27-40-770 suffices, and a fixed-term lease simply expires on its end date. For nonpayment, Section 27-40-710 lets the landlord terminate once rent is five days late, provided written notice of nonpayment was given, and that notice can be built into the lease so no separate letter is needed. Actual removal runs through the magistrate's court in St. George or Summerville. What a landlord may never do is self-help: changing locks, removing doors, or cutting off utilities to force a tenant out.
A self-help lockout or utility shutoff exposes the landlord to damages under the Landlord and Tenant Act. Filing to evict without proper five-day or 30-day notice gets the case dismissed in magistrate's court, and no local just-cause rule applies.
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