South Dakota Eviction Notice
South Dakota eviction notice: a 2024 repeal ended pre-filing notice; rent needs only 3 days' delinquency to file. Free template. Attorney review available.
Introduction
South Dakota did something almost no other state has done: in 2024, it repealed the statute that required landlords to serve a written notice to quit before filing an eviction. Senate Bill 90 struck South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-2 outright (SL 2024, ch 75, Section 1, effective July 1, 2024), so for nonpayment of rent, holdover, waste, or any other ground listed in Section 21-16-1, there is no longer a state-law requirement to serve a separate notice before filing a forcible entry and detainer action in court. What follows on this page is a notice document a landlord can still choose to serve, useful as a courtesy, as a paper trail, or because a lease independently requires one, not a mandatory legal step. That doesn't mean a landlord can file the moment rent is late. Section 21-16-1(4) still requires rent to be unpaid for 3 days after it was due before a nonpayment case is available, and the landlord's verified complaint and summons (governed by Section 21-16-6) becomes the tenant's actual notice of the case, with a 5-day answer period under Section 21-16-7 (also lengthened by the 2024 law, from 4 days). South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 21-16 and Chapter 43-32 govern this process. There's no government-mandated notice form. Confuse the optional-notice landscape with a hard legal requirement, or miscalculate the 3-day rent delinquency, and a filing can run into trouble.
Key Things to Know
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An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord can serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a forcible entry and detainer action in court.
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South Dakota is unusual: as of a 2024 repeal, no pre-filing notice is legally required for any eviction ground. Senate Bill 90 repealed South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-2 (SL 2024, ch 75, Section 1, effective July 1, 2024), which previously set the notice-to-quit requirement. (South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-2, repealed)
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For nonpayment of rent, no separate notice needs to be served, but rent must be unpaid for 3 days after it was due before a forcible entry and detainer case is available to the landlord. (South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-1(4))
- 4
For lease violations and repair-related terminations, South Dakota sets no fixed statutory cure period. A landlord may terminate for use of the premises contrary to the lease, or for failing to make repairs "within a reasonable time after request," an undefined, case-by-case standard rather than a set number of days. (South Dakota Codified Laws Section 43-32-18)
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Other grounds, waste on the premises, forcible or fraudulent entry, holdover after a foreclosure or partition sale, carry no cure option and, like nonpayment, no separately required pre-filing notice as of the 2024 repeal. (South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-1)
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The governing law is South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 21-16 (Forcible Entry and Detainer), together with Chapter 43-32 (Lease of Real Property) for lease-termination and periodic-tenancy rules.
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There's no state-mandated eviction notice form. The South Dakota Unified Judicial System's official eviction forms are the Verified Complaint (UJS-112) and Summons (UJS-111), both filed in court, not served on the tenant beforehand. (South Dakota Unified Judicial System, Eviction Self-Help Forms)
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in South Dakota, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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South Dakota Requirements for Eviction Notice
As of the 2024 repeal of Section 21-16-2 (SL 2024, ch 75, Section 1), no separate written notice needs to be served before filing for nonpayment. Rent must simply be unpaid for 3 days after it was due before a forcible entry and detainer case is available to the landlord under Section 21-16-1(4).
The verified complaint and summons must be served with a minimum of two service attempts, at least one week apart, both within thirty days. On the second attempt, the summons may be posted in a conspicuous place on the property, delivered to a resident there if one can be found, and also sent by first-class mail to the tenant at the property address.
No fixed statutory cure period exists. A landlord may terminate a lease before its agreed term ends for use of the premises contrary to the lease agreement, or for failing to make a repair the tenant is bound to make within a reasonable time after request, an undefined, case-by-case standard rather than a set number of days.
The statutory basis for every eviction ground on this page and the court process that follows if the tenant does not comply: South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 21-16, "Forcible Entry and Detainer," Sections 21-16-1 through 21-16-12, including the verified complaint and summons process and the tenant's 5-day answer period under Section 21-16-7.
Distinct from the for-cause grounds above: a periodic tenancy (for example, month-to-month) is presumed renewed on the same terms if the tenant stays and the landlord accepts rent. To end it without cause, either party must give notice at least as long before the term's expiration as the term of the hiring itself, capped at one month.
Waste on the leased premises, entry by force intimidation fraud or stealth, forcible ouster after peaceable entry, unlawfully holding possession by force or menace, holdover after a mortgage or execution sale, and holdover after a partition judgment carry no cure option and, since the 2024 repeal of Section 21-16-2, no separately required pre-filing notice either.
No government-mandated notice-to-quit form exists, and since Section 21-16-2 (which previously set required notice content) was repealed in 2024, state law does not prescribe required wording for an optional pre-filing notice either. The official South Dakota Unified Judicial System eviction forms are court-filing documents only: the Verified Complaint for Eviction (UJS-112) and the Summons for Eviction (UJS-111).
Frequently Asked Questions
As of a 2024 statutory repeal, South Dakota does not require any specific number of notice days, because no pre-filing notice is required at all. For nonpayment of rent, the only day-based requirement is that rent be unpaid for 3 days after it was due before a landlord can file in court (South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-1(4)). Other grounds, like holdover or waste, have no notice period because none is legally required.
Yes, as a matter of state law. Senate Bill 90 repealed South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-2 in 2024 (SL 2024, ch 75, Section 1, effective July 1, 2024), which had required a notice to quit before filing. A landlord can now file a verified complaint and summons directly under Section 21-16-1 and Section 21-16-6 once the applicable ground exists, without first serving a separate notice, unless the lease itself requires one.
Since no state statute currently sets required content for a pre-filing notice, a landlord who chooses to send one should still identify the landlord and tenant, the rental address, the reason for the notice, and, for nonpayment, the amount owed and the period it covers. Including this information creates a clear record even though South Dakota law itself doesn't mandate it.
There's no state-mandated notice-to-quit form. The South Dakota Unified Judicial System publishes court-filing forms, the Verified Complaint for Eviction (UJS-112) and the Summons for Eviction (UJS-111), but these are filed with the court, not served on the tenant as a pre-filing notice. A landlord who wants to send an optional notice first can write their own.
It depends on the ground. South Dakota Codified Laws Section 43-32-18 lets a landlord terminate for failing to make a required repair only after the tenant doesn't do so "within a reasonable time after request," an undefined standard rather than a fixed number of days. For most other grounds, using the premises contrary to the lease, waste, or holdover, state law sets no cure period at all.
The case begins with a verified complaint and summons filed in the circuit court for the county where the property is located, under South Dakota Codified Laws Section 21-16-6. That summons, not a separate notice, is typically the tenant's first formal notification, and Section 21-16-7 gives the tenant 5 days to respond after being served.
Since this notice isn't a legal prerequisite, nothing procedural happens automatically if the tenant ignores it. The landlord's next step, once the applicable ground exists (for example, rent 3 days past due), is to file a verified complaint and summons in circuit court. The tenant then has 5 days after being served with that summons to respond.
Date the notice on the day it's prepared and record the actual date and method of service separately, since state law doesn't set a required service method for this optional notice the way it does for the court summons. If a lease specifies how notice must be delivered, follow that method; otherwise use any approach that reliably reaches the tenant and keep a record of who served it, when, and how.