My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: South Carolina.
In April, 2015, I moved into a rental house in Bishopville, SC, but my landlord won't move out. I was forced to pack up his belongings, room by room, in order to place my own things. Even after laboriously packing his belongings, he still will not vacate and keeps coming in for items as if they are in storage. Out of four bedrooms, he occupies three. He says, because he is only charging 450.00, I am getting 450.00 worth of house. I see him at least two or three times weekly since moving in. When I tell him it's not right that he occupies more space than I do, he says he has no place to put the items. The rooms, when I moved in, looked like landfills on the floors. All the shelves had his belongings. The kid's debris strewn, cluttered rooms appeared as if they were still there until I cleaned them up and packed the items.
When I complain about him coming in to retrieve items all the time, he says he has a right to come in to make repairs. The thing is, making repairs is never on his agenda. Although he promised to put flooring in kitchen he still has not done so and this is July going into August. I can't use the washer and dryer that I purchased because the wiring is defective and they shock you. The front porch lights do not function and many, many other things are wrong. I am tired of looking at him and his mess, but I don't know what to do. I am 71 years old and it wore me down to have to pack his belongings before I could unpack and place my own. I really mean I was practically bedridden with back pain from all that lifting. He acknowledges that fact. T
hat he has no place to put the items makes sense to him. Initially, I thought that he really felt he had a right to use my place as storage because of my low rental fee, but he is doing the same thing to other tenants, using their rooms as storage. I would really like to sue him for all the work I've done and to get all my money back so that I can afford to move someplace I can live in all by myself. This is the craziest situation I could ever imagine and everybody finds it difficult to believe the mess I am in.What rights do I have and what are the chances of winning a lawsuit if I sue. I have photographs that I took of all the rooms. As I mentioned previously, he still has three rooms occupied. The craziest thing is that he seems like a really nice guy while he is screwing you over.

