Changes to Nonpayment-Based Eviction Appeal Procedures in SC: Residents Now Required to Post Bond
By: Sean Tropea- Georgia and South Carolina Licensed Managing Attorney with Brownlee Whitlow & Praet
Preview
Per a December 2024 directive from South Carolina Court Administration to its Magistrates, a prior directive issued in August 2020 has been rescinded. Prior to the December 2024 directive, to sustain a resident’s appeal of a nonpayment-based eviction for several months until heard by a circuit court judge, the resident was not required to pay any rent that accrued before the appeal, rather, the resident was merely required to pay any rent that accrued after the appeal. The December 2024 directive now requires payment of any rent that accrued before and after the appeal for residents wishing to remain in possession until their appeal is heard.
Introduction
In South Carolina (SC), although the eviction appeal process for housing providers is less-than-optimal when it comes to efficiently and economically resolving the tenancies of residents who breach their lease agreements, a December 2024
directive from SC Court Administration to its Magistrates now forecasts a lower likelihood of abuse of process by residents
who initiate erroneous and/or bad faith appeals of evictions based on nonpayment of rent.
This blog article aims to provide a general review of the SC eviction appeals process and give context on how the recent December 2024 directive stands to likely decrease the adverse economic and administrative impact of nonpayment-based evictions appeals upon housing providers.
South Carolina Eviction Appeals in General
In general, grounds for eviction can occur under three kinds of circumstances: conduct-based (e.g., criminal
activity, conduct that disturbs community, other failures to comply with lease terms); holdover-based (e.g., non-renewed resident remains on premises after receiving notice); and/or nonpayment-based (e.g., failure to timely and/or sufficiently
pay rent as provided by the lease and/or SC law). The content of this blog article and the presumed scope of the December 2024 directive focuses on nonpayment-based eviction appeals in SC because all three kinds of circumstances described
above require a resident to pay any rent that accrues after the appeal, but only nonpayment-based evictions inherently
involve circumstances where unpaid rent accrues before the appeal.
Although evictions can be filed in circuit or magistrate court in SC, most evictions transpire in magistrate court. When a Magistrate rules in favor of the housing provider by issuing a writ of ejectment, the resident may subsequently appeal the eviction before the writ of ejectment is executed. Appeals are only supposed to be filed by those who believe, in good faith, there was an error in fact or law that if not made would have resulted in a different outcome (i.e., ruling in favor of resident); however, it is not uncommon for appeals to be filed in an effort to delay the set-out and quite literally, buy more time.
There are several considerations that may be prompted for a housing provider upon receiving notice of a resident’s
appeal of a nonpayment-based eviction. Among these considerations should be the fact that the case is now also under the jurisdiction of the circuit court, which matters because in SC, business entities must be represented by counsel in circuit court, so whenever the housing provider and/or its managing agent are a business entity (vs. an individual person), certain delays and/or sanctions may be imposed upon housing providers who do not proactively and timely seek licensed counsel to appear on their behalf.
Another noteworthy consideration is that soon after the appeal is initiated, a bond to stay hearing should be scheduled
to take place in the magistrate court – prior to the December 2024 directive, the only thing the Magistrate did at this hearing was confirm the amount of monthly rent so this could be set as the “bond” amount (e.g., lease provides that rent is $1,000.00/mo.) to be paid by the resident until the eviction hearing is scheduled and heard by the circuit / common pleas
court, which in context of an eviction appeal meant that a resident would only be required to pay monthly rent that accrues after the appeal, with zero consideration or consequence for any unpaid rental balance the resident accrued before the
appeal. Ordinarily, bond is paid and/or considered late in the same manner as rent (i.e., due on the 1st of the month, late
after the 5th of the month).
Bond is important because if the resident successfully pays bond, the appeal may be sustained for several months while
the housing provider waits for the eviction hearing; however, if the resident fails to timely and/or sufficiently pay bond,
then the housing provider may have the ability to dismiss the appeal so the writ of ejectment can (finally) be executed.
The December 2024 Directive’s Effect Upon Nonpayment-Based Eviction Appeal Procedures
In short, the December 2024 directive’s effect upon appeals is relatively straightforward and profound in its potential
impact upon the aforementioned appeal procedures that have historically and repeatedly been used by residents to delay
set-outs/execution of writs of ejectment: it has now become presumably much more expensive for residents who appeal nonpayment-based evictions to buy more time, resulting in what is anticipated to be notably shorter appeals.
Thus, for residents who do not truly have enough resources to pay the housing provider what is owed, the December
2024 directive (which now requires payment of any rent that accrued before the appeal and after the appeal to satisfy the “bond” payment) may substantially shorten the anticipated appeal process from several months to a mere handful of days depending on the circumstances by way of nonpayment-based eviction appeals now costing notably more on the front end.
Eviction appeals can increase a resident’s delinquency balance, cost of legal fees, administrative bandwidth, and prolong any/all other simultaneously occurring concerns that may accompany a particular resident’s tenancy because nonpayment
of rent could be one of several pending concerns related to the resident who filed an appeal, so the December 2024
directive should be quite welcome in its ability to mitigate certain ancillary headaches experienced by housing providers.
If interested in learning more about eviction appeals in the December 2024 directive or the general eviction process in
SC, contact and consult licensed legal counsel.
*The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information in this article is for general informational purposes only. Information in this article may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. Viewers of this material should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No viewer of this material should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information in this presentation without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this article does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and Brownlee Whitlow & Praet, PLLC or any contributing law firms. All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this article are hereby expressly disclaimed.
