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S.D. Codified Laws § 21-16-1

Grounds for maintenance of action

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case Arrowhead Ridge I, LLC v. Cold Stone Creamery, Inc. (2011)

Most recently applied in Stock v. Garrett (February 2025)

Source: SDC 1939 & Supp 1960, § 37.3902; SL 1992, ch 156, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

197119801990200020102020202520
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

An action of forcible entry and detainer, or of detainer only, is maintainable:

(1) If a party has by force, intimidation, fraud, or stealth, entered upon the prior actual possession of real property or the occupied structure of another, and detains the same;

(2) If a party, after entering peaceably upon real property or an occupied structure, turns out by force, threats, or menacing conduct, the party in possession;

(3) If a party by force or by menaces and threats of violence unlawfully holds and keeps the possession of any real property, or occupied structure, whether the same was acquired peaceably or otherwise;

(4) If a lessee in person or by subtenants holds over after the termination of his lease or expiration of his term, or fails to pay his rent for three days after the same shall be due;

(5) If a party continues in possession after a sale of the real property or occupied structure under mortgage, execution, order, or any judicial process, after the expiration of the time fixed by law for redemption, and after the execution and delivery of a deed or instrument of ownership;

(6) If a party continues in possession after a judgment in partition, or after a sale under an order or decree of a circuit court;

(7) If a lessee commits waste upon the leased premises, or does or fails to perform any act which, under the terms of the lease operates to terminate the same.

The term, occupied structure, used in this chapter is defined in subdivision 22-1-2(28).

Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.