Free South Dakota Notice of Non-Renewal
The written notice South Dakota landlords use to end a periodic tenancy or decline to renew a fixed-term lease. Which period applies depends on how the tenancy arose — one month under SDCL § 43-32-15, fifteen days under § 43-8-8, or none at all where a fixed term simply expires. Built for South Dakota landlords.
Free South Dakota Notice of Non-Renewal — overview
Notice of Non-Renewal is one of the highest-stakes routine documents in South Dakota landlord-tenant practice. A defective notice — wrong period, improper service, missing required information — cannot support an eviction action, forcing the landlord to start over and pushing recovery of possession back by months. South Dakota non-renewal practice has technical requirements: which of the three notice regimes applies depends on how the tenancy arose; the clock starts at delivery; delivery must follow the lease and, for an estate at will, SDCL § 43-8-9; the notice must be in writing with all required elements. The form on this page handles the mechanics correctly; the page itself walks through the analysis step by step.
Month-to-month notice
One month (§ 43-32-15)
Authority
§ 43-32-15 / § 43-8-8
Estate at will
15 days (§ 43-8-8)
Fixed term ending
No statutory notice
On this page
- What a Notice of Non-Renewal does
- South Dakota legal framework
- How much notice South Dakota actually requires
- Authorized delivery methods
- Required information for the notice
- Common mistakes that void the notice
- Tenant remedies for defective notice
- South Dakota statute reference table
- Frequently asked questions
A South Dakota Notice of Non-Renewal is the written notice a landlord uses to end a periodic tenancy or to communicate that a fixed-term lease will not be renewed at expiration. Which period applies depends on how the tenancy arose: one month under SDCL § 43-32-15 for a hiring whose term was never specified, not less than fifteen days under § 43-8-8 for a residential estate at will, and no statutory notice at all where a fixed term ends on its own date. South Dakota prescribes no service method for this notice except through § 43-8-9 for an estate at will — SDCL § 21-16-2, which our earlier version cited, was repealed outright in 2024. Getting the notice right is high-stakes work: a defective notice cannot support an eviction action, and the landlord must start over with a corrected notice — pushing recovery of possession back by months. The form on this page handles the mechanics; the rest of this guide walks through the requirements.
📅 Notice Period Calculator
Enter the date you’ll deliver the notice. Enter the period your tenancy requires. For a monthly hiring under SDCL § 43-32-15 give a full calendar month; for a residential estate at will under § 43-8-8 the floor is fifteen days.
Earliest valid termination date
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✎ Complete Your South Dakota Notice of Non-Renewal
1 · Notice Dates
2 · Tenant & Property
3 · Landlord Contact
📋 Before You Serve — Pre-Send Checklist
What a Notice of Non-Renewal does
A South Dakota Notice of Non-Renewal is the document that ends a residential tenancy without alleging tenant fault. It is the formal communication that the tenancy will not continue past the date specified in the notice. Two distinct scenarios trigger its use: (1) ending a periodic (month-to-month) tenancy, and (2) declining to renew a fixed-term lease at expiration.
The notice is procedurally similar to other South Dakota eviction-related notices, but substantively different. A pay-rent-or-quit notice alleges nonpayment. A cure-or-quit notice alleges a curable lease breach. A notice of non-renewal does not necessarily allege any wrongdoing — it simply ends the tenancy at the end of the notice period.
What the notice accomplishes practically: it establishes the date on which the tenant’s legal right to occupy the premises ends. After that date, if the tenant has not vacated, the landlord may file an unlawful detainer or eviction action to recover possession. The non-renewal notice is the precondition to the eviction action — without it (or with a defective version), the landlord cannot lawfully recover possession of a tenancy that has not otherwise been forfeited.
The form on this page produces a Notice of Non-Renewal built to South Dakota’s notice-period requirements, whichever of the three regimes applies to your tenancy. The mechanical accuracy of the document is critical: a notice that gets the period wrong, omits required information, or fails proper service is unenforceable, and the landlord must start over.
South Dakota legal framework
South Dakota non-renewal of a residential tenancy operates under several layered sources of law, and the first thing to get right is which notice statute applies, because South Dakota has three and they are constantly conflated.
A correction worth reading. This page previously described SDCL § 43-32-13 as “the notice-period statute” for terminating a periodic tenancy. It is not. The section’s own catchline is “Modification of lease — Written notice by landlord, effect — Termination by tenant,” and its thirty days is the notice a landlord gives to change the terms of a month-to-month lease — rent included — to take effect at the expiration of the month. It also carries something no ranking South Dakota page mentions: once served with a modification notice, the tenant has fifteen days to terminate the lease effective the first day of the next month. Useful, but it is not the section that ends a tenancy.
1. SDCL § 43-32-15 — ending a hiring whose term the parties never specified. A hiring of real property for a term not specified by the parties is deemed renewed at the end of the term implied by law unless one party gives the other notice of intention to terminate at least as long before expiration as the term of the hiring itself, not exceeding one month. So a monthly hiring takes a month’s notice and a weekly hiring takes a week’s. Note the measure: a month, not thirty days. In a thirty-one-day month, thirty days’ notice is short. The safe practice in South Dakota is to give a full calendar month timed to the end of a rental period, which satisfies both readings.
2. SDCL § 43-8-8 — ending a residential estate at will. A tenancy or other estate at will for residential property, however created, may be terminated by the landlord giving notice under § 43-8-9 to remove within a period, specified in the notice, of not less than fifteen days. If the tenancy at will is the residence of a tenant on active military service, or a person on active military service is an immediate family member of the tenant — a spouse or a minor child — the tenant is entitled to two months’ notice, unless the tenant has engaged in sustained conduct that is disruptive to other residents or neighbours, illegal, destructive, negligent toward maintenance of the property, or a material breach of the implied lease conditions; or the landlord has sold the property or it has passed to the landlord’s estate. That fifteen-day figure has been the law since 1 July 2024 (SL 2024, ch. 178), and some sources still print one month.
3. SDCL § 43-32-13 — modifying, not ending. Thirty days’ written notice before the expiration of the month, with the tenant’s fifteen-day right to answer by terminating. Use it to raise rent or change terms, not to end the tenancy.
A fixed-term lease usually needs no notice at all. Under SDCL § 43-32-22 a lease is terminated by the expiration of the agreed term, so a fixed term simply ends on its own last day. Two things change that. First, if the lease itself requires advance notice of non-renewal, that clause governs and must be honoured. Second, under SDCL § 43-32-14, if the tenant stays on after expiry and the landlord accepts rent, the parties are presumed to have renewed the hiring on the same terms for the same time, not exceeding one year. A landlord who means to recover possession rather than renew should not take the money.
4. Anti-retaliation — SDCL § 43-32-27. A cause of action arises in favour of a tenant where the landlord increases rent above fair market value, decreases electric, gas, water or sewer services, or gives notice to vacate not based on a breach of the lease, after one of three special events: a complaint to a governmental agency about a building or housing code violation materially affecting health and safety, reported in good faith; written notice to the landlord of a condition requiring repair under § 43-32-9; or the tenant organising or joining a tenants’ union or organisation. Two limits sit on the face of the section and both are widely misreported: it is a defence that the notice to vacate was given more than one hundred and eighty days after the special event — that is the landlord’s defence, not the tenant’s limitation period — and the failure of the lessor to renew any written lease prior to or upon its expiration is not retaliation. South Dakota attaches no presumption of retaliation and does not shift the burden of proof.
5. Fair housing. The federal Fair Housing Act and SDCL § 20-13-20 both apply. South Dakota’s protected classes are race, colour, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability, familial status and national origin — creed and ancestry go beyond the federal list. South Dakota does not protect source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity or military status. A non-renewal may not be issued for a discriminatory reason or in a way that disproportionately affects a protected class.
How much notice South Dakota actually requires
South Dakota does not have a single non-renewal notice period. What you must give depends on how the tenancy arose, and the answer is in one of three sections.
| Tenancy | Required notice | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed term, ending on its own date | None by statute — the lease terminates by expiration of the agreed term. Give whatever notice the lease requires, and do not accept rent afterwards. | SDCL § 43-32-22; § 43-32-14 |
| Hiring for a term the parties never specified (month-to-month, week-to-week) | Notice as long before expiration as the term of the hiring itself, not exceeding one month — so a month for a monthly hiring, a week for a weekly one | SDCL § 43-32-15 |
| Residential estate at will | Not less than fifteen days, stated in the notice | SDCL § 43-8-8 |
| Residential estate at will, active-military household | Two months, subject to the section’s conduct and sale exceptions | SDCL § 43-8-8 |
| Changing the terms of a month-to-month tenancy (rent included) | Thirty days’ written notice before the expiration of the month — and the tenant then has fifteen days to answer by terminating effective the first of the next month | SDCL § 43-32-13 |
The clock starts at delivery. The notice period runs from the date the tenant has actual or presumed notice, not from the date the notice was prepared. The notice must state a specific calendar termination date that is at least the required period after delivery.
Give a calendar month, not thirty days, and land it on the end of a rental period. § 43-32-15 measures the notice by the term of the hiring — for a monthly tenancy, a month. A month can be thirty-one days, so a mechanical thirty-day count can fall short. Timing the termination date to the last day of a rental period and counting back a full calendar month satisfies the statute on any reading, and it also lines up with § 43-32-13 if you are modifying rather than ending.
South Dakota has no occupancy-length tiering. This page previously said that “cumulative occupancy controls — not lease term” and referred to a 30/60-day split. That is California law (Civ. Code § 1946.1, where a tenant of a year or more gets sixty days). No South Dakota statute lengthens a notice period because the tenant has lived there longer, and re-signing a lease does not change the analysis. The only tenant characteristic that lengthens a South Dakota notice is active military service under § 43-8-8.
The notice cannot be shortened below the statutory floor by a lease provision where a statutory floor applies — § 43-8-8 says “not less than fifteen days,” and § 43-8-10 forbids the landlord to reenter or proceed to recover possession before the period stated in the notice has expired, “but not before.” The tenant may of course agree to leave sooner once the notice is issued.
The notice can be lengthened by lease provision. A lease requiring ninety days’ notice of non-renewal is enforceable, and the landlord must give the longer period. Longer-notice clauses are common in professionally managed properties, so read the lease before counting anything.
Delivering the notice — what South Dakota actually says
This page previously said “SDCL § 21-16-2 authorizes personal delivery, substituted service plus mailing, or posting plus mailing.” That section no longer exists. It was repealed outright by 2024 Senate Bill 90 (SL 2024, ch. 75, § 1) with effect from 1 July 2024, and its entire body on the Legislature’s own site now reads “Repealed.” The “plus mailing” part was wrong even on its own terms, as the table below explains.
| Section | What it actually governs | Does it govern this notice? |
|---|---|---|
| SDCL § 43-8-9 | Written notice to terminate estate at will — manner of delivery — posting on premises | Yes, where the tenancy is an estate at will — § 43-8-8 expressly requires its notice to be given “in the manner prescribed by § 43-8-9.” It is also the only manner-of-service rule South Dakota wrote for a landlord’s own notice, and therefore the natural model everywhere else. |
| SDCL § 21-16-6 and § 21-16-6.1 | Verified complaint — service with summons — procedure; service by publication | No. These govern service of the summons and complaint after the eviction is filed: a sheriff, a constable or a person authorised under § 15-6-4(c) must make at least two attempts, at least one week apart, both within thirty days; on the second attempt the summons may be posted conspicuously and delivered to a person residing there if one can be found and sent by first class mail, with one optional newspaper publication. The “posting plus mailing” formula circulating on South Dakota notice forms does not come from here, though it looks as if it might. It is a fossil of the repealed § 21-16-2, which carried a near-identical rule for the landlord’s own notice — posting conspicuously, plus delivery to a person there residing if one could be found, plus first class mail, on a second attempt at least six hours after the first. This section puts one week between attempts, and it is a rule for an officer serving court process. A landlord following the old formula today is following a statute that no longer exists. |
| SDCL §§ 15-6-4(c)–(f) | Service of a summons under the rules of civil procedure | No. Court process again; § 15-6-5(b)(6) says expressly that the ordinary service rules of that chapter do not apply to a summons or other process. |
| SDCL ch. 43-32 | Lease of real property — South Dakota’s residential rules | Contains no service provision at all. Checked section by section against the chapter’s own index, § 43-32-1 through § 43-32-37. |
⚖ SDCL § 43-8-9 — verbatim
“The notice prescribed by § 43-8-8 must be in writing, and must be served by delivering the same to the tenant, or to some person of discretion residing on the premises; or if neither can, with reasonable diligence, be found, the notice may be served by affixing it on a conspicuous part of the premises, where it may be conveniently read.”
Method 1 — delivery to the tenant. The cleanest and most defensible.
Method 2 — delivery to a person of discretion residing on the premises. Note the wording: someone who resides there. Not a visitor and not a neighbour.
Method 3 — conspicuous posting, as a fallback only. Available only “if neither can, with reasonable diligence, be found.” Reasonable diligence means attempts you can describe to a judge.
There is no mailing step anywhere in the statute. No step requires or mentions a mailed copy. The “substituted service plus mailing” and “posting plus mailing” formulas that circulate on South Dakota notice pages are a fossil of the repealed § 21-16-2, which did prescribe posting plus delivery to a resident plus first class mail on a second attempt six hours after the first. That section was repealed outright in 2024. Mailing a copy remains a sensible habit that builds a record; it is not a South Dakota requirement for a landlord’s notice, and no statute now in force makes it one.
Where the tenancy is not an estate at will, the question is unresolved
§ 43-8-9 applies by its own terms to the § 43-8-8 notice and, through § 43-8-11, to a notice of intention to re-enter. For a notice ending a month-to-month hiring under § 43-32-15, or a non-renewal given under a lease clause, no South Dakota statute prescribes a method. Whether a court would import § 43-8-9 by analogy, accept any reasonable actual notice, or treat the lease’s own notice clause as the whole test is not answered by any statute we read, and we would rather say so than name a section that does not govern.
The practical sequence, therefore: follow the lease’s notice clause first; where the lease is silent, follow § 43-8-9’s order anyway, because it is the method the Legislature chose in the one place it addressed the question; mail a copy as well and keep the receipt, for the record rather than because a statute requires it; and document the date, time, address, method and any failed attempts. Written notice is essential either way — oral notice cannot be proved and cannot support an eviction.
Email and text are not a substitute. No South Dakota statute authorises electronic delivery of a termination notice, and § 43-8-9’s methods are all physical. If your lease contains an electronic-notice clause, sending electronically may satisfy the lease; send a physical copy as well.
Required information for the notice
No South Dakota statute specifies the content of a non-renewal notice — § 43-8-8 requires only that the period be “specified in the notice” and that it be in writing under § 43-8-9. The elements below are what settled practice, and the need to prove the notice later, make necessary. We are describing good practice here, not reciting a statutory list, and we would rather label it that way.
| Element | Why it’s required |
|---|---|
| Date of the notice | Establishes the timeline; required for proof of service |
| Names of all tenants | The notice must run against every adult tenant on the lease (or all named occupants if no formal lease) |
| Property address | Identifies the specific premises being terminated |
| Termination date | Must be at least the required period after delivery; specific calendar date |
| Authority | Cite the section that actually applies — § 43-32-15, § 43-8-8, or the lease clause. Do not cite § 21-16-2, which was repealed in 2024. |
| Landlord name and contact | Required for any tenant response or follow-up |
| Signature | Must be signed by the landlord or authorized agent |
| Method of service | Notice itself doesn’t require this, but proof of service should be prepared and retained |
Termination date must be calculated correctly. The date stated in the notice as the termination date must be at least the statutory required number of days after the date of delivery. A notice that says “tenancy terminates X days from the date of this notice” without identifying a specific calendar date creates ambiguity and is on weaker enforcement ground. Pick a specific calendar date and verify the math.
The landlord’s identity must be unambiguous. If a property-management company is serving the notice on behalf of an owner, the notice should make that relationship clear. A notice signed in an ambiguous capacity invites disputes about authority.
Documentation supports the notice. Beyond the notice itself, the landlord should retain a copy of the lease (showing the tenancy duration and terms), a record of delivery (proof of service), and any communications with the tenant about the non-renewal. These documents become evidence if the tenant disputes the notice.
Common mistakes that void the notice
Calculating the notice period from the wrong date
The notice period runs from the date of delivery, not from the date the notice was prepared, signed, or dated. A notice signed on March 1, served on March 15, with a termination date that does not account for the service date as the start of the clock is defective. The miscalculation is one of the most common reasons notices fail in unlawful detainer or eviction proceedings.
Importing another state’s occupancy tiering
Several widely copied non-renewal templates lengthen the notice period once the tenant has lived in the unit for a year. That is California law (Civ. Code § 1946.1), not South Dakota law. No South Dakota statute lengthens a notice period because of how long the tenant has been there, and re-signing a lease changes nothing. The only tenant characteristic that lengthens a South Dakota notice is active military service, under § 43-8-8. Applying a sixty-day rule that does not exist is harmless to the tenant but tells you the template you are using was written for somewhere else — which means its other rules are suspect too.
Relying on a service rule South Dakota does not have
South Dakota does not prescribe “personal delivery, substituted service plus mailing, or posting plus mailing” for a landlord’s notice. That formula is a fossil of the repealed § 21-16-2, which did prescribe posting plus delivery to a resident plus first class mail on a second attempt six hours after the first — and which was repealed outright in 2024. A near-identical rule survives in § 21-16-6, but that governs service of the summons by a sheriff or constable after the eviction is filed, with a week between attempts. The one manner-of-service rule written for a landlord’s notice is § 43-8-9, and it has no mailing step at all: delivery to the tenant, or to some person of discretion residing on the premises, or conspicuous posting only if neither can with reasonable diligence be found. Mail a copy anyway for the record — but do not assume mailing alone satisfies anything, and do not assume a mailed copy cures a posting you were not yet entitled to make.
Email or text-only delivery
No South Dakota statute authorizes electronic delivery of a termination notice, and every method in § 43-8-9 is physical. If the lease contains an electronic-notice clause, sending electronically may satisfy the lease, but send a physical copy as well. A notice delivered only by email or text is generally void.
Issuing a non-renewal during a protected period
Under SDCL § 43-32-27, a non-renewal that follows protected tenant conduct (habitability complaint, code-enforcement contact, tenant union activity) can be presumed retaliatory. Issuing a non-renewal within the protected period without a documented legitimate reason invites a retaliation claim and shifts the burden of proof to the landlord.
Targeting a tenant in a protected class
Even where the technical notice-period requirements are met, a non-renewal that targets a tenant based on race, religion, national origin, familial status (including pregnancy or having children), disability, source of income, or other protected characteristics under federal and South Dakota fair housing law is illegal. Disparate-impact analysis can also reach facially neutral patterns. A pattern of non-renewals concentrated in one demographic exposes the landlord to fair housing claims.
Failing to identify all tenants on the notice
Every adult tenant named on the lease should be named on the non-renewal notice. A notice that omits one of the named tenants is on weaker ground and may not support an eviction action against the omitted tenant. Some courts also require service on each named tenant individually.
Wrong termination date for the rental period
For periodic tenancies, the termination date should fall at the end of a rental period, not in the middle. A notice that terminates the tenancy mid-month for a month-to-month tenancy may not support an eviction until the end of the next rental period. South Dakota courts vary on how strictly this is enforced, but the safer practice is to align termination with the end of a rental period.
Not retaining a copy of the notice and proof of service
The notice and proof of service are the landlord’s primary evidence in any later eviction proceeding. Failing to retain copies leaves the landlord without the foundation to prove proper notice was given. Maintain the notice, proof of service, and any related communications in the property file.
Tenant remedies for defective notice
A South Dakota tenant who receives a defective non-renewal notice — wrong period, improper service, missing required information, or retaliatory or discriminatory motive — has multiple potential remedies. Understanding these helps landlords appreciate why getting the notice right matters.
Affirmative defense in eviction proceedings
The most common scenario: the landlord serves a defective notice, the tenant does not vacate by the termination date, the landlord files an eviction action, and the tenant raises the defective notice as an affirmative defense. If the defense succeeds, the action is dismissed and the landlord must serve a corrected notice and start over. The tenant typically remains in possession during the do-over and may be entitled to attorney’s fees if the lease has a fees clause.
Anti-retaliation damages
If the non-renewal was retaliatory under SDCL § 43-32-27 (issued in response to protected tenant conduct, such as habitability complaints, code-enforcement contacts, or tenant-union activity), the tenant can recover actual damages, attorney’s fees, and statutory penalties. The presumption of retaliation that attaches to a non-renewal following protected conduct shifts the burden to the landlord to prove a non-