ADU rules in Richland County, SC — also called accessory dwelling unit regulations or granny flat ordinances — cover setbacks, owner-occupancy, parking, and permit requirements.
Yes. Unincorporated Richland County allows one accessory dwelling per single-family lot in most residential and rural districts. The unit cannot exceed 500 square feet or one-fourth of the principal home's heated floor area, whichever is greater. A manufactured home may not serve as an accessory dwelling.
Under the Land Development Code, accessory dwellings are a permitted use with special requirements in the RU, RR, RS-E, RS-LD, RS-MD, RS-HD and M-1 districts. They may be placed only on a lot containing one single-family detached home, and just one is allowed per single-family dwelling. If the unit shares the principal structure, the home cannot be altered to appear from the road as multi-family housing. Inside a city (Columbia, Forest Acres, Blythewood), that city's zoning applies instead of the county code.
Building or occupying an ADU that violates the LDC is a zoning violation enforced by the Planning Department under Article XII code-compliance provisions, including stop-work and citation.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Richland County has no ordinance banning residential backyard composting. Reasonable home compost piles are allowed, but a pile that becomes a nuisance, harb...
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Richland County has no ordinance specifically permitting or prohibiting artificial turf on residential lots. Single-family yards are exempt from the county's...
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Richland County does not require homeowners to plant native species, but its Land Development Code favors them: on development sites, trees and plants in par...
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Rainwater harvesting is legal in South Carolina and Richland County has no ordinance banning or permitting residential rain barrels or cisterns. The county a...
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Richland County itself imposes no permanent lawn-watering ordinance. Outdoor water use is governed by your water utility and by South Carolina's Drought Resp...
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Richland County Code Sec. 18-4 treats overgrown grass, weeds, dead brush and noxious plants in developed areas as "unsafe and noxious vegetation." The sherif...
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