Charleston, SC Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

The recorded covenant required for every Charleston ADU under Sec. 54-214(g) carries two separate rental restrictions beyond the owner-occupancy test. Sec. 54-214(g)(2) is a flat rule: no subleases of the ADU shall be permitted. Sec. 54-214(g)(7) goes further and reaches both units on the lot, stating that neither the principal dwelling unit nor the ADU shall be utilized for a short term rental. Together the two provisions rule out the two most common ways an owner might try to monetize an ADU beyond a direct, owner-managed long-term lease: an ADU tenant cannot sublease the unit to someone else, and neither unit on the lot can be listed as an STR, whether through the city's own STR permit process under Sec.

54-208 or informally through a booking platform. This is a stricter rule than Charleston applies to ordinary rental housing citywide, and it exists specifically because the ADU program trades increased density for housing stability: Sec. 54-214(g)(3) and (g)(4) show the same intent, tying income-restricted ADUs that received a city subsidy to an affordability period of at least thirty years. The rental restrictions are recorded in the DCR that Planning and the Office of Corporation Counsel must approve before a certificate of occupancy issues for the ADU, so they bind the property regardless of ownership changes, and Sec. 54-214(g)(8) gives the city broad enforcement rights over the whole covenant package, including these two rental limits.