Rock Hill, SC Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

2(A)(7) of the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Rock Hill directly restricts how an accessory dwelling unit can be rented out. Tenancies of less than 30 days are prohibited, which rules out nightly or weekly stays through platforms like Airbnb by default. The same subsection also caps turnover: an ADU cannot be leased to more than 11 different individuals in any calendar year, a limit that applies on top of the 30-day floor and prevents an owner from cycling through a series of month-plus tenants to work around the short-term-stay restriction.

The ordinance builds in one specific exception: a property that has gone through separate approval as a short-term rental under Rock Hill Code of Ordinances Article 11, Short Term Rentals, is not held to the 30-day/11-person cap for its ADU. An owner who wants to run an ADU as a true short-term rental has to obtain the short-term rental permit under the general code rather than relying on the ADU use-specific standards alone. Absent that separate approval, the ADU functions as a standard longer-term rental unit, and the use-specific standards for accessory dwelling units, one unit per lot, at least 480 square feet, one parking space per bedroom, continue to apply regardless of how the unit is leased.