South Carolina Eminent Domain Laws and Condemnation Process

South Carolina’s eminent domain laws let state agencies, local governments, and certain utilities take private property for genuine public use, but only after paying just compensation and following the step-by-step process in the Eminent Domain Procedure Act. If your land is targeted, you have the right to see the appraisal, negotiate the offer, demand a jury trial, challenge whether the taking is legal at all, and recover your attorney fees if you win. You also have deadlines, some as short as 30 days, that control everything that follows.

The Constitutional Limits on Any Taking

Article I, Section 13 of the South Carolina Constitution says private property cannot be taken for public use without just compensation paid first, and it cannot be taken for private use at all without the owner’s consent.¹

In 2006, voters tightened that language with Amendment 7. The state and local governments are now expressly barred from condemning property “for the purpose or benefit of economic development” unless the condemnation qualifies as a genuine public use.² Boosting tax revenue or handing land to a private developer is not enough.

The amendment left one narrow blight exception. The General Assembly can authorize condemnation of property that poses a real “danger to the safety and health of the community” from problems like structural deterioration, lack of sanitation, or hazardous land use, and just compensation must still be paid first.² The current definition requires an actual threat to public health and safety, not simply an area a local government would prefer to redevelop.

Who Has the Power to Condemn

The Eminent Domain Procedure Act defines a “condemnor” as any person or entity empowered to condemn, and it creates the exclusive procedure every condemnor must follow.³ The usual players are the Department of Transportation, counties, and municipalities. Private utilities providing electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, and similar services can also condemn when their projects serve a public need. The constitutional ban on economic-development takings applies to all of them.

What Must Happen Before a Lawsuit

South Carolina requires a structured negotiation before any case lands in court. Skipping these steps can derail the proceeding.

The condemnor must first hire a qualified appraiser to determine just compensation for the property being taken, including damage to any land you keep. You are entitled to receive both the appraisal and a written statement explaining how the number was calculated.³

The condemnor then has to make a prompt written offer for the full amount it believes to be just compensation, describe the property being taken, and tell you that negotiation is on the table. Both sides must make “reasonable and diligent efforts” to reach a deal, and the condemnor must certify to the court that it tried to negotiate before filing suit.³ A failure to negotiate, however, is not a defense that can block the condemnation outright.

The condemnor also has a statutory right to enter your property after reasonable notice to conduct surveys, plan improvements, and perform appraisals. Refuse, and the court can order access. Entry under this authority is not trespass.³

What Happens After the Condemnation Notice Is Served

When negotiation fails, the condemnor files a Condemnation Notice in the circuit court for the county where the property sits and simultaneously deposits the offered compensation with the clerk of court. Once that happens, the condemnor can take possession of the property, even before the final compensation amount is set.³

You then have 30 days from service of the Condemnation Notice to respond in writing, either accepting or rejecting the offered amount. Silence counts as rejection.³ That same 30-day window matters for a separate reason explained below: it is also the deadline to challenge the right to condemn at all.

The Appraisal Panel

Before a jury hears the case, South Carolina uses a three-person appraisal panel. Each side picks a member and those two members pick a neutral third. The panel has 20 days from the third member’s appointment to issue a written compensation figure, and short deadlines follow for accepting, rejecting, or appealing the panel’s determination.³ The panel resolves many disputes short of trial, but either side can push the case forward.

The Jury Trial

If the dispute reaches trial, a jury decides the final compensation amount after hearing expert testimony on land value, comparable sales, and damage to any remaining property. The case cannot be called for trial until at least 60 days after the Condemnation Notice was served.³ The verdict becomes the final judgment for compensation owed.

What “Just Compensation” Actually Covers

South Carolina law limits just compensation to three components: the fair market value of the property actually taken, any reduction in the value of your remaining land, and any benefits the project brings to your remaining property, which can offset damages.³ That list is exclusive. Courts cannot add other categories of loss.

Partial Takings and Severance Damages

When only a slice of your property is taken, you receive the value of that strip plus compensation for any drop in value to what you keep. A highway widening that carves off a front yard may take only a small area, but noise, lost privacy, and reduced access can substantially diminish the rest. The statute calls that “diminution in the value of the landowner’s remaining property,” and it is fully compensable.³

The condemnor can argue that the project also benefits your remaining land, and the court must weigh those benefits as an offset. If a new road makes your remaining acreage more accessible, that gain reduces what you are owed.³ Having your own appraiser quantify both sides of that ledger is often what moves the final number.

What You Will Not Be Paid For

Because the statute limits compensation to the property taken and damage to the remainder, losses like business goodwill, lost profits, and emotional attachment are not recoverable. If you run a business on condemned ground, the loss of your customer base or brand reputation is not a line item in the compensation calculation.

Taking the Deposit Before the Case Ends

Once the condemnor has deposited the offered amount with the clerk and taken possession, you do not have to wait for a verdict to touch the money. Named condemnees can apply to withdraw up to 50 percent of the deposited funds while the case is pending.³ That matters for homeowners securing replacement housing and businesses funding relocation.

The trade-off is important. Withdrawing money waives all objections and defenses to the taking itself. You can still fight for higher compensation, but you can no longer argue the government had no right to take the property in the first place.³ If you suspect the condemnation is improper, talk to an attorney before touching the deposit.

Challenging Whether the Government Can Take Your Property

Fighting the compensation amount is one thing. Challenging whether the government can take the property at all is a separate proceeding with its own tight deadline. An action challenging the right to condemn must be filed in the court of common pleas within 30 days after the Condemnation Notice is served.³ Miss the window and you lose the ability to contest the taking.

These challenges typically argue that the project does not qualify as a public use under the state constitution, that the condemnor lacks statutory authority, or that the entity is taking more property than it genuinely needs. After the 2006 amendment, a landowner with evidence that the real beneficiary is a private developer has strong constitutional footing. Act fast, because the 30-day clock is unforgiving.

Recovering Attorney Fees and Costs

South Carolina offers a meaningful fee-recovery mechanism, but “prevailing” has a specific definition. A landowner prevails when the compensation awarded at trial is at least as close to the landowner’s highest appraised value presented at trial as it is to the condemnor’s highest value.³ Put simply, if the jury’s number lands closer to your expert’s figure than to the government’s, you can recover costs.

Recoverable costs include attorney fees, appraisal fees, engineering fees, deposition costs, and other expert witness fees. File an itemized application within 15 days of the judgment.³ The court can reduce or deny the award if the landowner dragged out the proceedings unreasonably, if the condemnor’s position was substantially justified, or if special circumstances make the award unjust.

If the condemnor abandons or withdraws the condemnation entirely, you are entitled to reasonable attorney fees, litigation expenses, and costs as determined by the court.³

Relocation Assistance for Displaced Owners and Businesses

Displaced residents and businesses qualify for help beyond the fair market value of their property under South Carolina’s relocation assistance statute, which follows the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act. State agencies and local governments must make these payments whether or not the project is federally funded.⁴

Payments typically cover actual moving expenses: packing, transporting, and resettling belongings. Displaced homeowners who cannot find comparable replacement housing at a similar cost may qualify for a supplemental housing payment to bridge the gap. For small businesses, farms, and nonprofits displaced by transportation projects, South Carolina allows reestablishment expenses of up to $50,000.⁴ Keep detailed receipts for every claim.

When the Government Damages Your Property Without Filing

Sometimes a government action damages or effectively takes your property without any condemnation proceeding being filed. A road project floods your land, a regulation eliminates all productive use, or a government facility creates unbearable noise. In those situations, the owner can bring an inverse condemnation claim, forcing the government to pay just compensation for a taking it never formally acknowledged.⁵

To succeed, you have to show that the government’s action invaded a recognized property right and either failed to advance a substantial governmental interest or stripped you of the economic value of your property. Fair market value is the measure of damages, just as in a formal condemnation. When an owner wins an inverse condemnation case in South Carolina, the court can award reasonable attorney fees, appraisal fees, engineering fees, and other costs incurred because the government forced the owner to sue.⁶

Related to inverse condemnation is the regulatory taking, where a government rule goes so far it effectively takes your property without any physical seizure. Courts evaluate these claims using the three-factor test from Penn Central Transportation Co. v. City of New York: the economic impact of the regulation on the owner, the degree to which it interferes with reasonable investment-backed expectations, and the character of the government action.⁷ A regulation that wipes out all economic value is almost always a compensable taking. One that merely reduces profitability is a harder case.

Tax Treatment of Condemnation Proceeds

Federal tax law treats condemnation payments as proceeds from an involuntary sale, which can trigger capital gains tax on any amount exceeding your adjusted basis in the property. Section 1033 of the Internal Revenue Code lets you defer that gain if you reinvest the proceeds in similar replacement property within the required time.⁸

For most condemned property, the replacement deadline is two years after the close of the tax year in which you first realized the gain. Real property held for business or investment use gets a three-year window.⁸ Spend less than the full award on the replacement property and you owe tax on the portion you did not reinvest. Your basis in the new property carries over from the old one, adjusted for any gain you already recognized. Miss the deadline and you have to amend the return for the year of conversion and pay interest on the resulting tax from the original due date.

1
Justia. South Carolina Constitution Article I – Declaration of Rights
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Constitution
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 28 Chapter 2 – The Eminent Domain Procedure Act
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 28 Chapter 11 – Relocation Assistance
5
Legal Information Institute. Inverse Condemnation
6
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Section 55-15-110 – Condemnation
7
Legal Information Institute. Regulatory Takings and the Penn Central Framework
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1033 – Involuntary Conversions