A landlord in Anderson County meets a cleanout in one of two ways: the magistrate has issued a writ of ejectment and a deputy is coming to put the tenant out, or the rent stopped weeks ago, the power is off and the unit is sitting full. South Carolina law treats the two differently, and the crew you book should know which one it is walking into before it lifts a thing.
Here is the law in plain words, then the day itself. Upstate Junk Pros is a booking line, not the crew; your request goes to an independent local hauler who prices it from your photos and arrives when the deputy does.
Before anything is moved: the rule, the writ and the deputy
Ejectment in South Carolina runs through the magistrate court; in Anderson County that is the Civil Division at 2404 North Main Street, which takes landlord-tenant filings on weekdays until 4:30 pm. The landlord or the landlord's agent applies, and the magistrate issues a rule telling the tenant to vacate or show cause within ten days of being served (S.C. Code § 27-37-20). If the tenant does not answer, the magistrate issues the writ of ejectment and the tenant is put out by a constable or the county sheriff (§ 27-37-40).
The writ is executed the way § 27-37-160 describes. The officer goes to the unit, hands over a copy and gives the occupants twenty-four hours to leave on their own; if nobody answers, the writ is taped to the door and the same twenty-four hours run from the posting. After that a deputy sheriff, and only a deputy, not a constable, may enter by force using the least destructive means. That twenty-four hour clock is the planning fact: you know a day ahead when the set-out happens, so the crew can be booked for the same hour.
None of this is a formality. A landlord who changes the locks or empties the unit without a writ is doing a self-help eviction, and § 27-40-660 lets the tenant recover possession or end the lease and collect three months' rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is more, plus attorney's fees. No crew worth hiring will clear an occupied unit without seeing the writ or the deputy.
An abandoned unit is a different rule
If the tenant is gone rather than being put out, § 27-40-730 governs. An unexplained absence of fifteen days after rent went unpaid counts as abandonment; if the tenant also cut off the utilities, abandonment is immediate. Once the unit is abandoned or the lease has ended, and the tenant has taken most of his things or voluntarily and permanently ended the utilities, the landlord may enter and dispose of what is left if its fair-market value is $500 or less.
Anything outside that subsection, a unit still full of furniture for instance, can only be cleared through the ejectment steps above. Photograph the unit before you decide which side of the line it is on, note the power status, and keep the pictures with the lease file; a crew quotes from the same photos.
What the crew does on the day
For a set-out the crew arrives at the time the officer gave, not before, and touches nothing until the deputy has taken possession. Then one person walks each room with a phone camera and records the state it was left in while the rest start carrying. Those time-stamped photos settle the argument six months later over a missing television.
Where the property goes is the officer's call under the writ. A set-out traditionally means the tenant's things are placed at the public street, and § 27-40-710(D) has city or county officials remove property left on a public road after forty-eight hours, not counting weekends and holidays, and requires the notice of eviction to tell the tenant that. Most of the county runs on convenience centres with no curb pickup, so a pile at the roadside in Iva or Townville is yours until someone hauls it. Ask the deputy before the first armload whether the load may go straight to the truck or has to be staged first, and do what he says.
An abandoned unit under the $500 rule is simpler: you or your manager opens the door and the job runs like any house cleanout, one visit for an apartment, one to two days for a full house.
What is hauled and what is boxed
Hauled: furniture, mattresses, bagged clothing, broken electronics, the contents of the fridge, the trash of the last weeks of a tenancy, and whatever was left in the yard or carport. Clean furniture goes to a donation partner first; the rest goes to the landfill on the hauler's account, which is why the disposal fee sits inside the price.
Boxed and handed to you or the deputy, never thrown on the truck: identification, mail and papers with a name on them, prescription medicine, photographs, keys, cash, jewellery, a child's school or medical records, and any firearm or ammunition, which the crew does not touch and points out to the officer. That list is not in the statute; it is what keeps a landlord out of a small-claims hearing and lets a former tenant who calls back get the things that matter. The box is marked with the unit address and the date.
One thing the crew will not do is clear a unit with someone still inside and no officer present. If the tenant is standing in the kitchen when the truck pulls up, the crew waits for the deputy.
Timing and what it costs
Book when the writ issues, not when the deputy is on the step. The twenty-four hour notice in § 27-37-160 is enough lead time for a local Anderson crew to hold a truck for the hour; a crew driven in from Greenville needs more. For an abandoned unit, a single item can usually go the day you call and a whole unit within a day or two.
The price is by the load, from the same table as our pricing page. A studio or one-bedroom set-out is usually a half truck at $375–$500; a full two- or three-bedroom house is a full truck at $625–$800, sometimes with a second load; a single left-behind couch or fridge is $99–$175. If the unit needs a renovation afterwards, a 20-yard dumpster at $450–$600 a week costs less than sending a truck twice. The figure is firm from your photos; mention a fridge of spoiled food, a flea problem or a second-floor walk-down in advance and it stays the final one.
Useful links
- S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 37: Ejectment of Tenants – rule to vacate, writ of ejectment and how the officer executes it (§ 27-37-160)
- S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 40: Residential Landlord and Tenant Act – abandonment (§ 27-40-730), self-help ouster (§ 27-40-660), property on the street (§ 27-40-710(D))
- Anderson County Magistrates: Civil Court – where landlord-tenant actions are filed in Anderson County, with address and hours
Questions on this
Can I haul the tenant's things myself once the rent is a month late?
Only if the unit is abandoned under § 27-40-730 (fifteen days of unexplained absence after default, or at once if the tenant cut the utilities) and what is left is worth $500 or less. Otherwise you need the writ; removing property without it exposes you to three months' rent or double damages plus attorney's fees (§ 27-40-660).
Does the landlord have to store what is set out?
The ejectment chapter and the abandonment section impose no storage duty once a writ has been executed; § 27-40-710(D) covers removal of set-out property from the street after forty-eight hours. Most landlords still box papers, medicine and ID and hold them a short while; it costs nothing.
How fast can a crew be at a set-out in Anderson?
Inside the twenty-four hours the officer gives, if you call when the writ issues. Send photos through a window if you have them.