Free South Carolina Rent Increase Notice

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South Carolina has no rent control and no cap on how much you can raise the rent – state law (S.C. Code 27-39-60) even bars cities and counties from adopting local rent control – and the Residential Landlord & Tenant Act sets no special rent-increase notice statute. A rent increase is a change of terms governed by the lease. For a month-to-month tenancy, change the rent the way you change the tenancy: with at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days week-to-week) under S.C. Code 27-40-770, and never in retaliation (S.C. Code 27-40-910). Generate a clean notice below.

30-day (month-to-month) S.C. Code 27-40-770 / 27-40-910 South Carolina Free PDF

This South Carolina Rent Increase Notice raises the rent on a residential tenancy. South Carolina sets no rent control and no cap on the amount – S.C. Code 27-39-60 even forbids local rent control – and its Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (S.C. Code 27-40-10 et seq.) fixes no rent-increase notice period as such; an increase is a change of terms the lease controls. For a month-to-month tenancy, the practical floor is the 30-day written notice (7 days week-to-week) used to terminate the periodic tenancy under S.C. Code 27-40-770, and the increase may not be retaliatory under S.C. Code 27-40-910. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a South Carolina rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with applicable South Carolina law; retain proof of service.

A South Carolina rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. South Carolina is a market-rate state: there is no statewide rent control and no statutory cap on how much the rent can go up. State law goes a step further and forbids local rent control – S.C. Code 27-39-60 provides that no county or municipal corporation may enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance or resolution that would regulate in any way the amount of rent to be charged for privately owned single-family, multiple-unit residential, or commercial rental property, with a narrow carve-out only for property the local government itself owns or agreements it makes with private parties. A 2025-2026 bill styled the South Carolina Rent Control Act was introduced to cap increases, but it did not become law, so there is no cap to worry about anywhere in the state. What the law does regulate is when an increase can take effect and why it is being made.

The South Carolina Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (S.C. Code 27-40-10 and following) does not contain a rent-increase notice section of its own. In South Carolina a rent increase is treated as a change of the terms of the tenancy, and the lease controls how and when that change can happen. On a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term: it cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause, and any increase takes effect at renewal. On a periodic tenancy, the landlord changes the rent the same way the tenancy itself is ended and re-let – under S.C. Code 27-40-770, by written notice given to the other party at least thirty days before the termination date for a month-to-month tenancy, or at least seven days before for a week-to-week tenancy. The practical rule, then, is at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days week-to-week) before the new rent starts. The same section sets the landlord’s holdover remedies if a tenant stays past a properly terminated term.

Even with proper timing, an increase can still be unlawful because of its motive. S.C. Code 27-40-910 prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant – including by increasing the rent to an amount in excess of fair-market value, decreasing essential services, or bringing an action for possession – after the tenant complains to a governmental agency charged with enforcing a building or housing code about a violation materially affecting health and safety, or complains to the landlord of a violation of the Act. The statute builds in a safe harbor for larger landlords: one who rents more than four adjoining dwelling units on the premises may increase rent without a presumption of retaliation, provided the increase applies uniformly to all tenants or so long as the rent does not exceed fair-market value. A tenant facing a retaliatory increase may use the remedies in S.C. Code 27-40-660 as a defense, but to raise that defense in a possession action the tenant must notify the landlord in writing within ten days after service of the Rule to Vacate or Show Cause. Federal and South Carolina fair housing law independently bar an increase aimed at a tenant because of a protected characteristic.

Because South Carolina sets no required method to serve a rent-increase notice, the practical standard is provable written delivery within the notice period – and the change-of-terms notice must be in writing, so a verbal increase does not count. Personal delivery to the tenant, delivery left at the premises when the tenant is absent, certified mail with a return receipt, or first-class mail all work; email or text is fine only when the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with proof of delivery. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick.

One distinct regime is worth flagging: a manufactured-home park lot is governed not by the general Act but by the South Carolina Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act (S.C. Code 27-47-10 et seq.), which applies only where the resident owns the manufactured home and rents the lot. There, S.C. Code 27-47-420 requires the park owner to give the resident at least thirty days’ notice in advance of the effective date of a new rental rate when the tenancy continues beyond the original term, and the resident then has 30 days to say whether the tenancy will continue. (The Act’s original 1991 figure was 90 days, but the current code was amended down to 30.) That separate Act is a distinct regime, but its 30-day notice now matches the ordinary-rental figure under S.C. Code 27-40-770 – so the manufactured-home lot is not a 90-day exception. There is no 90-day rent-increase rule anywhere in South Carolina residential rent law, for a manufactured-home lot or an ordinary apartment or house. Put together, a clean South Carolina increase is simple but exact: confirm the tenancy is periodic or at renewal, treat the increase as a change of terms, give at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days week-to-week) – or follow a longer period the lease sets – keep the timing and motive outside the 27-40-910 retaliation bar, deliver the notice in writing with proof, and keep the new rent in line with fair-market value applied uniformly. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

• No statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase, and no rent control – S.C. Code 27-39-60 bars counties and municipalities from enacting local rent control on privately owned property.
• No separate notice statute for increases — an increase is a change of terms the lease governs; for a month-to-month tenancy give at least 30 days’ written notice (7 days week-to-week) under S.C. Code 27-40-770.
• Written notice required — a verbal rent increase does not satisfy the change-of-terms notice; state the new rent and the effective date.
• No mid-term increase on a fixed-term lease unless the lease expressly allows it; the increase applies at renewal.
• No retaliatory increase above fair-market value after a protected tenant complaint (S.C. Code 27-40-910); a landlord of more than four adjoining units may raise rent uniformly without a retaliation presumption.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class (federal Fair Housing Act and S.C. Human Affairs Law).
• Manufactured-home park lots fall under a separate Act, but it too requires at least 30 days’ notice of a new lot rate (S.C. Code 27-47-420) – there is no 90-day rent-increase rule in South Carolina.

• South Carolina sets no required method to serve a rent-increase notice, but the change-of-terms notice must be written — verbal notice does not satisfy it.
• Personal delivery to the tenant, or delivery left at the rental premises if the tenant is absent.
• Certified mail with a return receipt, or U.S. first-class mail, gives a dated paper trail; allow added days for receipt when you mail.
• Email or text works only if the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it; keep the send record either way.

• Giving less than 30 days’ written notice on a month-to-month tenancy (or 7 days week-to-week), or setting the effective date before the notice period runs (S.C. Code 27-40-770).
• Raising the rent mid-term on a fixed-term lease that does not allow it.
• Assuming a 90-day rule applies — there is no 90-day rent-increase rule in South Carolina; both an ordinary rental (S.C. Code 27-40-770) and a manufactured-home-park lot (S.C. Code 27-47-420) use at least 30 days’ notice.
• Raising the rent above fair-market value right after a tenant’s code complaint — S.C. Code 27-40-910 treats that as retaliation.
• Relying on a verbal notice with no written record or proof of delivery.

• Read the lease first — a notice period or escalation clause there controls, and may require longer than 30 days.
• Give written notice at least 30 days before the increase takes effect for a month-to-month tenancy (7 days week-to-week).
• State the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date plainly on the notice.
• Deliver by a method you can prove, and keep the increase at or in line with fair-market value, applied uniformly.

In South Carolina a landlord may raise the rent by any amount and as often as the tenancy allows – the state has no rent control, no statutory cap on the size of an increase, and no law limiting how frequently rent may go up. S.C. Code 27-39-60 removes the only tool a local government might use to cap it, barring every county and municipality from regulating the amount of rent charged for privately owned residential or commercial property. So there is no 5%, 7%, or 10% ceiling anywhere in the state, and no once-a-year rule.

What controls an increase is not a number but the structure of the tenancy and the reason for the change. On a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term and can be changed only at renewal (unless the lease contains an escalation clause), so as a practical matter a term lease can be raised only once per term. On a month-to-month tenancy there is no statutory waiting period between increases; each increase simply needs its own at least 30 days’ written notice under S.C. Code 27-40-770 (7 days week-to-week). The real ceilings are market reality, the lease itself, the retaliation bar of S.C. Code 27-40-910, and federal and South Carolina fair-housing law.

Several rent-increase pages state that a South Carolina landlord must give 90 days’ notice for a fixed-term lease of a year or longer, cannot raise rent in the first year, may raise it only once every 12 months, is capped at 7% plus CPI, and owes a tenant three months’ rent for a violation. None of that is current South Carolina law. Every one of those figures comes from the South Carolina Rent Control Act – a proposed bill (2025-2026 Bill 3346, and its 2023-2024 predecessor Bill 3264) that would create rent control. Bill 3346 was introduced on January 14, 2025, and as of this update it remains pending in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry with no further action since January 29, 2025. It has not passed either chamber and it is not enforceable. Bill 3264 died the same way in the prior session.

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