Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in South Carolina?

No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest.

What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in South Carolina?

No statutory penalty reaches an interest violation specifically.

Does a landlord have to pay interest on a security deposit in South Carolina?

Verified August 28, 2026 All South Carolina topics →

Enacted but not yet in force. This page reflects the law in force today. The following measure has been signed and takes effect on the date shown:

2026 Act No. 214 (H. 4270), new S.C. Code § 30-2-60 — Signed but not yet effective: from January 1, 2027, eviction filings and records made under § 27-40-10 or § 27-37-10 that include a defendant's personal information — including cases ended by an order of eviction or writ of ejectment, by settlement, or by later payment of the judgment — must be removed from the public index and from publicly accessible files seven years after the final disposition or filing if no additional filing is recorded. No notice period, deadline or figure on the eviction page changes; the section governs court records after the case. Status: Ratified May 14, 2026 and signed by the Governor May 19, 2026 as Act No. 214; section 3 makes it effective January 1, 2027. (checked September 5, 2026).

No South Carolina statute requires a landlord to pay interest on a residential security deposit, and none addresses the question at all.

Cited to S.C. Code § 27-40-410 (security deposits; prepaid rent) and 1 more cited source · Verified August 28, 2026

The deposit section of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, § 27-40-410, covers return timing, itemization, the tenant's forwarding-address duty, a posting rule for landlords who apply different deposit standards across more than four adjoining units, and successor liability — and imposes no account, escrow, trust, or commingling rule anywhere, so there is not even an account for interest to accumulate in as a matter of statutory duty. The section has stood unamended since 1994. The nearest South Carolina law on deposit interest points the other way: the real-estate licensing act lets a property manager who holds trust funds use an interest-bearing trust account and keep the interest, if the owner of the funds was told of the right to it and gave it up in a written agreement.

South Carolina deposit interest at a glance

Interest owed to the tenant	No — no statute addresses it
How the rate is set	No rate exists — there is no interest duty
Current figure	No published figure exists
Rate rules	No rate rules — no duty exists
Accrual and payment	No payment duty exists
Who and what is covered	No statutory conditions stated — see the summary and notes
Statute controls where or how the deposit is held	No statute addresses how the deposit is held
Interest-bearing account required	No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest
Custody rules	No statute addresses custody of the deposit
Penalty for violation	No statutory penalty reaches an interest violation specifically
Local rules	None noted for this state

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, South Carolina Security Deposit Interest Laws (verified August 28, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/deposit-interest/south-carolina/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Check the verified South Carolina answer — and every state and city that differs — in the deposit interest calculator — free, no signup, built on the same verified South Carolina law as this page.

Notes and caveats

The licensing rule that gets misread — Section 40-57-136(G) is the only South Carolina provision that speaks to interest on held rental money, and it is a duty on real-estate licensees, not landlords: trust funds a broker-in-charge or property manager-in-charge must hold may sit in an interest-bearing trust account, and the licensee may keep the interest only where the funds' owner was informed of the right to the interest and relinquished it by written agreement, in conspicuous language if the form is preprinted. It creates no tenant entitlement and does not reach a self-managing landlord — but it is the likely reason a careless summary reports South Carolina as having an interest-bearing-account rule.
What the deposit statute does instead — A landlord who fails to return the deposit or prepaid rent with the itemized written notice § 27-40-410(a) requires — due within 30 days of termination, delivery of possession, and the tenant's demand, whichever is later — owes three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees. The remedy is coupled to the itemization duty, not to any interest obligation.

Common questions: South Carolina deposit interest

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

What is the South Carolina security deposit interest rate right now?: No published figure exists.
When must a landlord pay or credit deposit interest in South Carolina?: No payment duty exists.
Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in South Carolina?: No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest.
What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in South Carolina?: No statutory penalty reaches an interest violation specifically.
Do any cities or counties in South Carolina have their own deposit-interest rules?: None noted for this state.

Citations

S.C. Code § 27-40-410 (security deposits; prepaid rent) (verified 2026) Official source
S.C. Code § 40-57-136 (real estate licensees; trust funds) · (G) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of S.C. Code § 27-40-410 in full (all five subsections) on the South Carolina Legislature's code site, with the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act's surrounding sections examined for every occurrence of account, escrow, trust, and interest language; the Real Estate Licensing Act's trust-fund section § 40-57-136 read in full for the adjacent licensee rule; and the current session's enacted landlord-tenant measure checked for any interest content.