What can a landlord do with a tenant’s belongings left behind in South Dakota?

In South Dakota, a landlord may dispose of property worth five hundred dollars or less that a tenant leaves on the premises for ten days after moving out, but must store property worth more than five hundred dollars for thirty days or more before treating it as abandoned and disposing of it. Property worth five hundred dollars or less left for ten days after the tenant has quit the premises is presumed abandoned. The landlord has a lien on stored property for the costs of handling and storing it. Neither section requires a written notice to the tenant. This is SDCL §§ 43-32-25, 43-32-26.

WhatSouth Dakota
Belongings left behindWait 10 days ($500 or less) or store 30 days
What the statute requires firstNotice, a waiting period or storage before disposal

What the statute says

“The lessor shall have a lien on the property to the extent of the costs of handling and storing the property. After storing the property for thirty days or more the lessor may treat the property as abandoned and dispose of it.”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

SDCL §§ 43-32-25, 43-32-26

Read the statute in the South Dakota Codified Laws (South Dakota Legislature): sdlegislature.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora keeps a lease’s end date and every notice sent through it, with the date it went out, in the lease record — so the dates a rule like this one counts from are on file rather than remembered.

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