Columbia, SC

Columbia's Code of Ordinances makes it unlawful for an owner or occupant to let grass, weeds or other overgrowth exceed one foot in average height on a lot, declaring taller growth a…

Columbia exempts a planned and managed naturalistic landscape designed for pollinators, birds and wildlife from the citywide one-foot weed-height rule, but only after the owner…

Columbia's public services director can cut or remove any tree, shrub, bush, or weed overhanging a street or sidewalk once it's found to be a traffic hazard, and can order a private…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance requires a Tree Removal Permit under Sec. 17-2.5(m) before cutting, destroying, removing, relocating, or transplanting any protected tree…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance does not mandate rain barrels or cisterns outright, but new development covered by the green building standards can earn 0.50 points toward its…

During a declared drought, Columbia's city manager can order residents, including those who irrigate lawns and gardens, to cut water use by 30 percent, with steeper cuts and rate…

Columbia does not mandate curbside or backyard composting, but new residential development covered by the city's green building standards can earn 0.25 points toward its required score…

Columbia requires two designated parking spaces per short-term rental dwelling unit in residential districts. Hosts must tell guests where to park and how many vehicles are allowed…

No dwelling in Columbia may operate as a short-term rental without a current annual STR permit from the city. Permits are non-transferable, tied to one address, and limited to owners…

Columbia charges a $50 non-refundable application fee for every STR permit, plus a $100 registration fee for owner-occupied units or $250 for non-owner-occupied units, with a $100 late…

Columbia runs a points-based strike system against STR permits: one point for a first violation, five for each repeat within 12 months, and ten for a serious safety violation, with…

Sec. 5-402(13) limits every permitted short-term rental in Columbia to two overnight guests per bedroom, excluding minor children, plus two more people for the whole dwelling unit. The…

Richland County's STR ordinance does not set a separate decibel limit for rentals. Sec. 16-82 requires the property to comply with all county ordinances at all times, so the county…

Richland County does not require the host to be physically present during a stay, but Sec. 16-82 requires a responsible local representative who can take phone calls at all times and…

Richland County Code Sec. 16-82 does not spell out a specific liability-insurance minimum, but it authorizes county safety inspections and requires ongoing compliance with all county…

Columbia's city council can designate residential permit parking districts after a traffic survey and public hearing when nonresidential parking severely impacts a neighborhood. Only…

Columbia declares an unregistered, inoperable, derelict, or abandoned motor vehicle on any road, right-of-way, or public or private property a public nuisance unless it is kept inside…

Columbia bans storing commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles, or trailers of any size on city streets. 'Storage' kicks in the moment such a vehicle sits unattended, or unmoved, in…

Loading zones in Columbia are timed to the minute: a passenger zone allows only a three-minute stop for loading or unloading people, while a marked loading zone is reserved for…

Columbia requires every vehicle parked on a street to sit parallel to the curb, headed the same direction as traffic, with its curbside wheels within 18 inches of the edge of the…

Columbia doesn't set one blanket overnight parking ban; instead it lets the city post hour- and day-specific no-parking signs block by block, and section 12-43 makes it unlawful to…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance caps vehicle parking in the front yard of a residential lot at 40 percent of that yard area or 500 square feet, whichever is greater, and bars…

Columbia charges by the kilowatt-hour for electric vehicle charging in its city-owned parking decks and lots under Sec. 12-150(e) of the Code of Ordinances: $0.1900 per kWh for a Level…

Columbia bans parking any RV, camper, boat, trailer, or jet ski outside a defined parking space in the front yard of a single-family or two-family home. Sec. 17-5.2(c)(3)c limits the…

South Carolina caps no towing charge. There is no statutory or regulatory ceiling on a hookup fee, mileage rate or daily storage rate, and no statewide drop fee for returning to your…

Columbia bans barbed wire, concertina wire, electrically charged wire, spikes, blades, glass, or other hazardous materials on any fence below five feet from the ground, with a narrow…

Columbia caps fence and wall height by yard type under UDO Table 17-5.8(d)(3): 8 feet in a side or rear yard, 6 feet in the second front yard of a corner lot, and 4 feet in any other…

Every new or replacement fence or wall in Columbia must meet the standards in UDO Sec. 17-5.8 unless it falls under a narrow exemption list. There's no standalone fence permit…

South Carolina is a closed-range, fence-in state. Under S.C. Code Section 47-7-110 the livestock owner, not the adjoining neighbor, must confine animals; letting them run at large is a…

Columbia bans loud building-operation noise overnight in residential blocks: under City Code Sec. 8-65, it is unlawful to run any machine, equipment, or apparatus that produces loud or…

Columbia cuts its noise limit at night: under City Code Sec. 8-93(c), sound from any non-vehicular source in a residential area cannot exceed 55 dB(A) between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m…

Columbia's noise ordinance exempts aircraft operations from the city's decibel limits and enforcement, deferring entirely to federal noise-control law rather than the sound-level…

Columbia sets numeric decibel caps by vehicle type and speed limit under City Code Sec. 8-93(a): motorcycles built before 1973 max out at 82 dB(A) on roads posted 35 mph or less and 86…

Columbia bars anyone from operating a radio, mechanical musical instrument, or other sound-amplifying device so it casts unreasonably loud, excessive, or disturbing noise onto public…

Columbia requires every motor vehicle and moped on city streets to run a functioning muffler and exhaust system that never exceeds 84 dB(A), matches the factory-installed noise level…

Columbia's noise code defers entirely to its animal ordinance: Section 8-96 says animal sounds are governed by Chapter 4, and Section 4-70(b)(6) makes it unlawful to let an animal…

Richland County has no leaf-blower-specific ordinance. Leaf blowers count as domestic power equipment, so they are exempt from the noise rule only when used between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00…

Building a residential swimming pool in Columbia falls under the general building-permit rule in Sec. 5-201, and the fee schedule in Sec. 5-204(e) names pools directly, requiring an…

Every outdoor swimming pool in Columbia must be fully enclosed by a code-compliant barrier at least 48 inches tall with no more than a two-inch gap beneath it, openings too small to…

Columbia allows up to four hens per lot under Section 4-35, but bans roosters, hog-raising, and any other livestock or fowl within city limits. Keeping chickens requires a zoning…

Columbia's Code of Ordinances makes it unlawful to kill, maim or otherwise annoy with firearms, air rifles, slingshots or any other manner the birds and squirrels within city limits or…

Columbia doesn't cap pets outright, but Section 4-63 requires anyone who keeps four or more dogs on one property to first get an animal control certificate of inspection, the same…

Columbia's Code doesn't ban any dog breed outright, but Section 4-61 lists 'its breed' as one of several factors animal control weighs when declaring a dog a dangerous animal. Once so…

Columbia exempts feral and free-roaming cats from ordinary licensing through its Community Cat Diversion Program under Section 4-74, so long as each cat is vet-assessed healthy, spayed…

Every dog in Columbia must be on a leash, in an enclosure, or contained by an approved invisible fence system under Section 4-64; anything else counts as running at large. Tethering is…

Columbia doesn't mandate microchipping for every pet at home, but Section 4-67(a)(2) bars releasing any animal from the city shelter, whether redeemed by its owner or adopted, without…

Columbia's citywide ban on keeping wild and feral animals carves out one permit path: a wildlife rescue organization holding appropriate state or local permits may lawfully keep…

Columbia bans residents from owning, keeping or exhibiting an extensive list of wild and exotic animals inside the city, from nondomestic cats and wolf-dog hybrids to venomous snakes…

Columbia's zoning code regulates veterinary hospitals and clinics as an Animal Care Use under Sec. 17-4.2(c)(3)a.2. Boarding areas must be fully enclosed and animals kept indoors…

Richland County doesn't require every pet to be sterilized, but any animal impounded by Animal Services must be spayed or neutered before it goes home. Section 5-17(b) sets three…

Richland County doesn't require pet stores to be adoption-only. Section 5-9 bans curbside and public-space animal sales and sales of pets under eight weeks old, but it expressly…

South Carolina regulates the movement and disease inspection of honey bees under Title 46, Chapter 37, administered by Clemson's Department of Plant Industry. Bees brought into the…

South Carolina bans intentionally feeding black bears statewide under S.C. Code § 50-11-440 and restricts deer baiting by region under Department of Natural Resources rules. These…

Columbia bans all open burning within city limits unless the pollution control officer issues a special permit with fire department concurrence, or the fire falls into one of five…

Columbia allows recreational open fires, such as backyard campfires and fire pits, without a burning permit under Section 8-131(a)(5), so long as the fire creates no smoke violation or…

Columbia's Sec. 14-108 bars discharging fireworks between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. citywide, with extended windows on July 4th and New Year's Eve. It bans igniting fireworks within 600…

South Carolina regulates LP-gas (propane) storage, transport, and installation under Title 40 Chapter 82. The LP-Gas Board licenses dealers and enforces NFPA 58 standards uniformly…

The South Carolina Forestry Commission has statewide authority to declare wildfire emergencies, issue burn bans, and suppress forest fires. Title 48 designates protected forestland and…

Columbia allows home occupations as an accessory use to a dwelling under Sec. 17-4.3(d)(6), but caps the business at 25 percent of the home's floor area (or 1,000 square feet), limits…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance allows a family child care home as an accessory use in a single-family dwelling, capped at six children and requiring state licensing. The home…

Columbia's home occupation standards flatly bar signage: Sec. 17-4.3(d)(6)e says there shall be no sign, and no change to the residential look of the dwelling, tied to a home business…

Columbia caps how much traffic a home business can generate: Sec. 17-4.3(d)(6)i bars significantly more delivery, vehicle, or foot traffic than a residential neighborhood would…

South Carolina lets residents run a "home-based food production operation" selling nonpotentially hazardous foods without a DES/DHEC permit. Products must carry a specific disclaimer…

South Carolina has never created a microenterprise home kitchen permit, so there is no route for selling meals cooked to order out of your own house to the general public. Regulation…

Any accessory structure in Columbia, including a storage shed, must sit at least three feet from a side or rear property line, at least five feet from the main house unless it is open…

Columbia requires an owner-occupancy commitment before an accessory dwelling unit can operate. Sec. 17-4.3(d)(1)b requires that either the principal house or the ADU itself be the…

Columbia allows one accessory dwelling unit (ADU) per single-family lot under Sec. 17-4.3(d)(1). The unit can be attached to the house or built as a detached structure like a garage…

Columbia bans short-term rental of accessory dwelling units. Sec. 17-4.3(d)(1)i prohibits leasing or renting an ADU for any tenancy under 30 days, closing off Airbnb- or VRBO-style…

Richland County has no tiny-home-specific ordinance. A tiny house on a permanent foundation is treated as a single-family dwelling that must meet the building code and district…

Columbia's code enforcement system groups reportable violations into four categories: public health, public decency/peace/order, public welfare/safety, and public economy, covering…

Columbia requires anyone who directly observes a nuisance that poses an emergency threat to public health, safety, or the environment to immediately report it to the Columbia…

Richland County's Property Maintenance Division must inspect a code complaint about a mobile or manufactured home park within three business days when the alleged violation poses an…

Columbia bans loud or excessive noise from loading and unloading vehicles under City Code Sec. 8-62, and sets a hard numeric cap for nighttime deliveries: any loading or unloading…

Columbia requires a special events permit from the chief of police before anyone can stage a parade, procession or march on city streets or public places. Funeral processions and…

Columbia routes outdoor dining onto the sidewalk or right-of-way through the city manager, who is authorized under Section 11-71(e) to approve outdoor dining encroachments following…

Columbia treats a block party as a 'special event' under Sec. 22-162, so Sec. 22-166(a) bars anyone from conducting one without a special events permit from the city manager's…

Sec. 15-2(a) requires anyone who wants to use a Columbia park or recreational facility for a group of 25 or more, or hold an activity likely to draw that many, to get a permit from the…

Columbia requires a special event permit before anyone stages a street fair, festival or similar public gathering that draws crowds, closes streets or sets up vendor booths. Organizers…

Columbia requires every junk and secondhand dealer to log each purchase in a permanent record book, report all purchases to the police chief by 11:00 a.m. daily, and hold every item at…

Columbia requires anyone operating a health club, massage parlor, spa, or physical culture club to obtain a city business license before opening, and that license can only issue after…

No one may operate as a pawnbroker in Columbia without a city license. Licensed pawnbrokers must record every pledge in a book, report all pawned or purchased articles to the police…

Columbia caps non-consent tow fees, requires wrecker firms to hold a city business license and zone contract, and bars solicitation at accident scenes. Police direct all non-consent…

Columbia keeps sexually oriented businesses on a tight leash: no such business may open within 1,000 feet of another one, or within 700 feet of a church, school, day care, park, or any…

Columbia does not license vape shops separately, but it does regulate what they must tell customers. Any retailer selling cannabis products, defined broadly enough to include vape…

Columbia zones tattoo and body piercing establishments as a Personal Services Use with mandatory spacing. Sec. 17-4.2(c)(3)d.1 requires a body piercing or tattoo establishment to sit…

Columbia bans loitering that creates a disturbance, obstructs pedestrians or vehicles, or is tied to begging, gambling, prostitution, unlicensed solicitation, or unlawful drug or…

Columbia makes it unlawful to urinate or defecate on any public or private property in the city outside a restroom or other designated sanitary facility. The blanket rule, adopted in…

Columbia bans drinking or carrying an open container of alcohol on public streets, sidewalks, tree zones, parking garages and parks, with fines up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail…

Columbia bans smoking outdoors within 25 feet of building entrances, playgrounds, outdoor dining and bar seating, arenas, shopping malls, transit stops and other listed public…

Richland County outlaws panhandling outright in the unincorporated area: Sec. 16-33 makes it unlawful for anyone to go door-to-door or onto the streets asking for money for their own…

Columbia requires every property owner with a sidewalk on their frontage to keep it clean and free of obstruction, and to report defective sidewalk conditions to the city manager or…

Anyone excavating, encroaching on, or temporarily using a Columbia street, easement, or public right-of-way must obtain a permit first under Section 11-71(a), and must indemnify the…

Columbia makes it unlawful to obstruct any street, including the sidewalk area within the right-of-way, without city council's consent, and separately bans blocking a sidewalk or…

Columbia bans flying a drone over any gathering exceeding 50 people without the event organizer's lawful permission, part of a broader careless-operation ordinance that also bars…

Columbia's Sec. 14-107 makes careless drone operation a municipal offense: it is unlawful to fly a drone that violates FAA or state registration rules, injures a person, damages…

Columbia bars anyone from soliciting contributions in the city unless the person or charity has complied with South Carolina's Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act and filed proof of…

Columbia bans sitting, lying down, sleeping or storing property on public streets, sidewalks, benches and medians, and bans the same conduct on any public property when it blocks…

Columbia bans camping and storing personal property in any city-owned park, defining camping as erecting tents or shelters, sleeping in one spot for a substantial period, or regularly…

Columbia only allows sidewalk food carts to operate inside a council-designated vending district, and even there a cart cannot sit within 50 feet of a competing food business entrance…

Columbia requires a nonexclusive council-granted franchise plus a business license before anyone can sell food, beverages or merchandise from a cart on a city street or sidewalk. The…

Columbia limits sidewalk cart vendors to a fixed list of approved foods and merchandise, bans vending between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., forbids leaving a cart unattended or overnight…

Columbia computes every business license tax from a council-adopted rate schedule that sorts businesses into numbered classes by NAICS code under Section 11-51. The license official…

Columbia caps residents at two garage sale permits per year for any one family unit, location, lot or premises. Each $5.50 permit covers a maximum of two consecutive days, excluding…

Owners of a vacant building in Columbia must register it with the code enforcement division within 120 days under Sec. 5-293, renew annually, and submit a corrective "vacant building…

Columbia makes it unlawful to dump, throw, drop, deposit or discard litter or solid waste on any public or private property or in city waters, whether from a vehicle or on foot, unless…

Once a Columbia household has curbside recycling, City Code § 19-36 spells out what must go in the bin: recyclable materials belong in the city-issued recyclables container, and glass…

Columbia keeps yard debris out of the regular trash stream. City Code § 19-37(c) requires shrubbery trimmings, grass clippings, leaves and tree limbs to be separated from household…

Businesses without rear access can't leave a dumpster or roll cart at the curb all day in Columbia. City Code § 19-39 limits curbside placement to a 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. window and…

Columbia caps residential collection at one garbage pickup and one trash pickup per week under City Code § 19-40. Households in a designated recycling area get a combined…

Columbia limits when trash and recycling receptacles can sit on city streets or sidewalks, bars hazardous materials from curbside pickup, and lays out how the solid waste division…

Columbia does not put every household on curbside recycling automatically. City Code § 19-35 makes recyclables containers available only in city-designated areas, and only after a…

Columbia tells residents exactly when a roll cart can sit at the curb and where it has to go the rest of the time. City Code § 19-35 sets an 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. curbside window and…

Columbia won't collect furniture, appliances or bedding with the regular roll cart route. City Code § 19-37(b) requires residents to call the sanitation division and schedule special…

Columbia enforces the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70), 2020 edition, as adopted by the South Carolina Building Code Council, for every electrical installation in the city. Sec…

Sec. 5-201 of the Code of Ordinances bars anyone from engaging in "any part or facet of the building business" in Columbia without first obtaining the appropriate permit and paying the…

Columbia enforces the 2021 International Plumbing Code as its local plumbing standard under Sec. 5-91, with the Code Council's administrative sections on permit authority and official…

Sec. 17-5.11 requires most new development in Columbia to earn green building points for energy, water, and site features. New residential buildings with three or more units need 3…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance treats a day care facility as a Community Service Use under Sec. 17-4.2(c)(2)b.1. Any center approved as a principal use must hold current…

Richland County building permits require a set sequence of inspections: foundation, roughing-in, and final. Permit holders must give the Building Official three working days' advance…

Every mobile or manufactured home in unincorporated Richland County with a fossil-fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage must carry an operational carbon monoxide alarm. Going…

Columbia's Rat Control article requires every business building, not private homes, to be built, maintained and kept ratproof and rat-free under the health officer's supervision, with…

Sec. 5-336 lets any complainant trigger a rental-housing inspection by giving code enforcement their name, address, and a statement of facts supporting the alleged violation, given…

Columbia inspects rental units for Property Maintenance Code and rental-ordinance violations under Sec. 5-336, but only with an occupant's consent or a warrant once the unit is…

Columbia enforces minimum habitability and upkeep standards on every rental property through the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, adopted by Sec. 5-151 with local…

Every residential rental unit in Columbia must hold a current city rental permit before an owner can lease it, under Sec. 5-326. Owners must certify the property meets minimum code…

Under S.C. Code § 27-40-710, a landlord may terminate for nonpayment if rent stays unpaid for 5 days after it is due and the landlord gives written notice. For other material lease…

Under S.C. Code § 27-40-530, a landlord must give the tenant at least 24 hours' notice before entering the unit and may enter only at reasonable times, except in an emergency. The…

Under S.C. Code § 27-40-770, either the landlord or tenant may end a month-to-month tenancy by giving the other at least 30 days' written notice before the termination date. A…

South Carolina law preempts local rent control. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 27-39-60, no county or municipal corporation may enact or enforce any ordinance regulating the rent charged for…

South Carolina sets no statutory cap on a residential security deposit. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-410, when a tenancy ends the landlord must refund the deposit, less any accrued…

Under S.C. Code § 15-67-210, occupation of land is presumed subordinate to the legal owner unless the property has been "held and possessed adversely" for 10 years before an action is…

Columbia's city code allows only one non-illuminated garage-sale sign, capped at two square feet, and it must stay on the property where the sale is held. The rule sits inside the…

Billboards facing Columbia's interstates and freeway-class highways are confined to the Outdoor Advertising Sign Overlay (OV-OAS) District, where a freestanding sign can reach 672…

Columbia's sign code exempts holiday and seasonal decorations from the permit and size standards that apply to signs, so a homeowner or business can put up lights, wreaths, and yard…

Columbia limits yard signs, the category that covers political and campaign signage, to six per lot with a combined display area no larger than 18 square feet in every Residential…

Any Columbia sign with LED, low-voltage, or CRT changeable copy, digital billboards included, must run automatic brightness compensation that keeps luminance under 1,500 nits by day…

Under Sec. 15-4(a), Columbia closes its parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, ball diamonds, tennis courts, greenbelts and other recreational facilities to the general public daily…

Columbia's Sec. 14-151 bars minors under 14 from public streets, parks, playgrounds and other public places between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. unless accompanied by a parent, guardian, or…

The OV-DC Downtown Columbia Overlay District applies the Downtown Columbia Design Guidelines, incorporated by reference, to prioritize pedestrian-friendly public space downtown. It…

Columbia lets developers who build green earn a density bonus of up to one additional dwelling unit per acre above what the base zoning district otherwise allows, one of four…

Columbia's OV-HP Historic Preservation Overlay District designates Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 landmarks based on architectural distinction and contribution to the city's visual and…

Columbia has no separate "heritage tree" list; instead its Unified Development Ordinance singles out "grand trees" for extra protection at Sec. 17-5.4(e), Removal of Grand Trees…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance defines a "protected tree" at Sec. 17-5.4(c)(1) as any grand tree, any tree used to meet minimum tree-density or landscaping requirements, or…

New subdivisions in Columbia must plant one street tree for every 40 linear feet of lot frontage, set within a planting strip at least five feet wide between the street and any…

Columbia regulates stormwater runoff citywide under Chapter 21, Article II, enforcing its NPDES municipal separate storm sewer system permit through the stormwater division. The…

Columbia requires new and substantially improved homes in a special flood hazard area to sit at least two feet above the base flood elevation, with no basements allowed. Nonresidential…

Any development in a Columbia flood hazard area needs a development permit from the city engineer before work starts. Applicants must show the elevation of the lowest floor and, for…

Columbia requires a land disturbance permit before any grading, construction or land-disturbing activity that disturbs 5,000 square feet or more, or that is part of a larger…

South Carolina's Coastal Tidelands and Wetlands Act gives SCDES (formerly DHEC's OCRM) exclusive permit authority over critical areas in the eight coastal counties. State critical-area…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance sets maximum lot coverage as a percentage of site area separately for each zoning district in the Sec. 17-3.2 dimensional standards tables. The…

In Richland County's single-family residential districts (RS-LD, RS-MD, RS-HD) and the rural district, the maximum height of structures is 45 feet. Accessory structures must stay…

In Richland County's single-family districts, principal homes must sit 25 feet from the front, 20 feet from the rear, and meet a combined side-yard total (16 ft in RS-LD, 13 ft in…

Every exterior light fixture installed in Columbia, security lighting included, must be a full cut-off fixture aimed downward under UDO Sec. 17-5.9(d); no fixture may direct any light…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance lets illuminated permanent signs, including freestanding billboards, use chaser lights or pulsating neon tubing only if the sign stands at…

Columbia's exterior lighting standard exists specifically to keep light spillage and glare off neighboring land: Sec. 17-5.9 requires every exterior fixture to be designed so…

Columbia imposes a 3 percent tourism development fee on the gross proceeds from renting any accommodation within the city, covering hotels, motels, inns, condominiums, bed and…

Columbia's Unified Development Ordinance bars any plant on the South Carolina Exotic Pest Plant Council's invasive list from required landscaping. The rule sits in Sec. 17-5.3(c)(1)…

Columbia allows small-scale solar as an accessory use under Sec. 17-4.3(d)(8): panels can go on a roof, wall, pole, or the ground, may rise up to 18 inches above the district's height…

Columbia does not force homeowners to rip out grass, but new development covered by the city's green building standards can earn landscaping points toward its required score two ways…

Columbia's zoning code recognizes agriculture and forestry, including crop production, community gardens, and forestry, as a distinct Agricultural Uses classification under Sec…

South Carolina protects established agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits when surrounding land uses change under the Right to Farm Act.

Backyard smokers, BBQ pits, and grills are treated as cooking devices in Richland County. A fire used for immediate food preparation needs no SC Forestry notification, but the same…

Richland County handles hurricane and storm debris separately from routine trash under Sec. 12-41. Storm Debris and Tree Storm Debris must go to the curb sorted by waste type, and the…

An HOA in unincorporated Richland County that wants backyard, rather than curbside, trash and recycling pickup for its neighborhood has to follow a specific vote-and-notice procedure…

South Carolina protects exactly one flag. S.C. Code Section 27-1-60 overrides any restrictive covenant, declaration, rule, contract, lease or homeowners' association document that…

South Carolina sets no dollar cap on homeowners association fines and requires no notice, hearing or cure period before one is imposed. The Homeowners Association Act, S.C. Code…

South Carolina gives condominium associations a statutory assessment lien but denies it any priority over a mortgage. S.C. Code Section 27-31-210(a) makes unpaid common-expense…

South Carolina places no statutory limit on how far a homeowners association may restrict leasing. There is no grandfathering clause for owners already renting, no cap percentage, no…

South Carolina state law prohibits cultivation, possession, and use of marijuana for any purpose, including medical and personal home grow. Cities cannot legalize home cultivation…

South Carolina preempts local governments from setting minimum wage rates above the federal floor under Section 6-1-130 of the state code.

South Carolina has no statewide paid sick-leave or paid family-leave mandate, and no city has adopted one. Section 6-1-130 preempts only local minimum-wage rules, so no statute…

South Carolina allows concealed carry under permit and, since 2024, lawful permitless carry by eligible adults aged 18 or older.

South Carolina law preempts local governments from regulating firearms, ammunition, components, and related accessories beyond what state law expressly authorizes.

South Carolina permits open carry of handguns by eligible adults under the 2021 Open Carry With Training Act and the 2024 permitless carry law.

South Carolina allows lawful adults to carry a loaded handgun in a private vehicle without a permit under the 2024 constitutional carry expansion of Section 23-31-215.

South Carolina outlaws lotteries and raffles unless conducted under one of three authorized programs: the state Education Lottery, Charitable Bingo (S.C. Code § 12-21-3910 et seq.), or…

South Carolina's 1802 gaming law, Section 16-19-40, makes it a crime to play cards or dice for money in a private home, kitchen, or barn -- there is no exception for a friendly poker…

South Carolina bans sports betting outright. S.C. Code § 16-19-130 makes it a crime to bet at a race track, sell pools, run a bookmaking operation, or record wagers on the outcome of…

No section of the South Carolina Code authorizes, defines, or regulates a DUI checkpoint. The words checkpoint and roadblock appear in exactly three sections of the whole code, and…

South Carolina has no statute granting a right to film police and no buffer-zone offense keeping bystanders back from an arrest. What protects you instead is the state wiretap chapter…

South Carolina has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute. A pedestrian stopped on a Columbia sidewalk or outside a Charleston bar commits no offense by declining to give a…

South Carolina has not legalized cannabis, so it has none of the possession-is-not-probable-cause language other states built their vehicle-search pages on. What it has instead is a…

To drive a golf cart on a South Carolina public highway the owner must obtain a permit decal and registration certificate from the Department of Motor Vehicles, showing proof of…

Federal Tobacco 21 law bars selling tobacco, vapor, or alternative nicotine products to anyone under 21, and this applies in South Carolina. South Carolina's own statute (§ 16-17-500)…

South Carolina has not enacted a statewide ban on flavored tobacco or vapor products, and local flavor bans face preemption challenges under state tobacco law.

South Carolina permits extra lamps only from a closed list with fixed counts and mounting heights: one spot lamp, two fog lamps, one auxiliary passing lamp and one auxiliary driving…

South Carolina never wrote a windshield allowance. Section 56-5-5000 simply forbids driving with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material on the front windshield, sidewings or…

Lane splitting is expressly illegal in South Carolina. S.C. Code Section 56-5-3640(c) states that no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic, or between adjacent…

A tinted licence plate cover is illegal in South Carolina by name. S.C. Code Section 56-3-1240(D) forbids displaying any other licence plate, lighting equipment, tag, sign, monogram…

A radar or laser detector is lawful in a private passenger vehicle in South Carolina. The phrase radar detector appears nowhere in the S.C. Code of Laws, and the word radar itself…

South Carolina has no studded tire season. S.C. Code Section 56-5-5040 makes it permissible to use regular and snow tires with studs on any vehicle for increased safety at any time of…

South Carolina sets one figure and applies it almost everywhere. Under S.C. Code Section 56-5-5015(C) and (D)(2), after-market film on the front side wings, the side windows beside and…