South Dakota Landlord Compliance Kit: Deposit, Notice and Eviction Checklists with an Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Landlords and property managers with rentals in South Dakota, and tenants who want the same record, from move-in through move-out or a court case.

Not the right fit if

Your rental is outside South Dakota: get that state's kit. Not legal advice, not a lawyer's review of a lease, notice or court case, and not a set of legal notice forms; city and county rules aren't covered.

Why it is different

• Built only from our South Dakota data files, checked November 2026 against 9 official pages, among them South Dakota Legislature: 43-32-24, Return of security deposit; South Dakota Legislature: Chapter 43-32 (43-32-6.1); South Dakota Legislature: SDCL 43-32-32, Reasonable notice of landlord's intent to enter; South Dakota Unified Judicial System: Tenant/Defendant Checklist, Instructions and Forms for Eviction (Rev. 07/2026); South Dakota Unified Judicial System: UJS-109 Checklist for Eviction Action (Rev. 07/2026); South Dakota Unified Judicial System: Landlord/Plaintiff Eviction Packet (Rev. 09/2023), plus National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (a vetted secondary source, marked in the kit) where no official page could be read.
• 9 items the official pages didn't state are left out of the rules and put on a short look-up list with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and works out South Dakota notice and deposit dates for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 14 confirmed South Dakota rules at a glance and a short look-up list of 9 points to check: interest on the deposit, where the deposit is held, unpaid rent notice, late fee limits, hearing after filing, judgment to writ, writ to lockout, paying to stop the case and more, each with the official page.
• South Dakota landlord rules checklist. Deposits, notice periods, the eviction case and the small claims limit, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date. What it confirms: deposit limit: No more than one month's rent, unless both agree to more because special conditions pose a danger to the premises (43-32-6.1); return deadline: Within 21 days after the tenancy ends: the deposit, or a written statement of the specific reason for withholding; itemized list of deductions: A written statement of the specific reason; an itemized accounting within 45 days if the tenant asks (43-32-24); penalty the law states: Not complying forfeits all rights to withhold; bad faith adds punitive damages of up to $200 (43-32-24); ending month-to-month (landlord): A hiring with no set term ends on notice given at least as long before it expires as the term itself, up to one month; ending month-to-month (tenant): A hiring with no set term ends on notice given at least as long before it expires as the term itself, up to one month; rent increase notice: Month-to-month: the landlord may change the terms by written notice at least 30 days before the month ends; the tenant may then end the lease effective the first of the next month with notice within 15 days; entry notice: Reasonable notice of the intent to enter, and entry only at reasonable times, except in an emergency or where impracticable; court: Eviction cases are filed in circuit court; filing fee: $72 to file the case filing statement, summons and complaint with the clerk of court; a tenant's answer has its own filing fee, and sheriff or process server service costs extra; time to answer or appear: Five days after service to answer and serve the landlord; weekends and holidays don't count; who carries out the lockout: The judgment form directs the local sheriff's department to remove the tenant on or after the date the court fills in; right to counsel (statewide): No statewide right to counsel for tenants in eviction cases (as of November 2026, per the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel): its tracker of enacted laws lists no statewide law here; small claims limit (for a deposit dispute): $12,000: the most a small claims case can ask for.
• Move-in and move-out deposit checklist. A room-by-room condition checklist for both visits and the steps after move-out, with South Dakota's return deadline (within 21 days).
• Notice calendar. When each notice must go out: the lead time for every notice the state's text confirms, with a 2027 month-by-month serve-by table worked out with our notice date calculator's rules.
• Eviction timeline sheet. The South Dakota case in order from notice to lockout, with each confirmed stage, an example dated from a sample filing day where the rules give periods, and blanks for your own case dates.
• South Dakota landlord workbook (Excel). A tenant notice log that dates each notice from the South Dakota rules, a deposit tracker that works out the return date for each move-out, and a rent ledger with a running balance.