The South Dakota notice to comply or quit is used by a landlord to notify tenants that their lease will be terminating due to a non-compliance with the rental terms. A tenant is considered non-compliant when they voluntarily damage the rented property (referred to as “committing waste”) or when they negligently or willfully violate a lease provision (and the lease states that the consequence of the violation is termination). South Dakota law § 21-16-2, which specifies the eviction circumstances under which a notice to quit is required, does not include the abovementioned non-compliances as cases requiring an eviction notice. Therefore, the landlord is not required to serve the notice to comply or quit on the tenant before commencing the eviction process.
Should the landlord choose to serve the tenant with a notice to comply or quit, they should describe the non-compliance within the notice and include the date by which the tenant must either vacate the premises or correct the violation. If the tenant neither vacates nor remedies the violation within the designated period, the landlord can proceed by filing an eviction lawsuit in court.
Laws – § 21-16-1(7) and § 43-32-18
