3 rules for unincorporated Dorchester County, South Carolina.
Verified from official government sources
South Carolina bans local rent control outright. Under S.C. Code Section 27-39-60, no county or city may regulate the rent charged on private residential property. Neither Dorchester County nor the Town of Summerville may cap increases, so landlords set rents at market and raise them freely at renewal.
S.C. Code § 27-39-60
No county or municipal corporation may enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance or resolution which would regulate in any way the amount of rent to be charged for privately owned, single family, or multiple unit residential, or commercial rental property.
South Carolina has no just-cause eviction law, and Dorchester County adds none. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act lets a landlord end a month-to-month tenancy for any reason with 30 days' notice, and evict for nonpayment on a five-day notice under Section 27-40-710. Self-help lockouts remain illegal.
S.C. Code § 27-40-710(B)
If rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within five days from the date due or the tenant is in violation of Section 27-40-540, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement provided the landlord has given the tenant written notice of nonpayment and his intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period.
South Carolina has no statewide rental-registration or landlord-license law, and Dorchester County runs no rental-inspection registry. What it does require is a business license: a landlord renting property in the unincorporated county must hold a Dorchester County business license, and Summerville landlords need the town's.
S.C. Code § 27-40-410(c)
If a landlord (1) rents more than four adjoining dwelling units on the premises, and (2) imposes different standards for calculating security/rental deposits required of different tenants on the premises, then, prior to the consummation of the rental agreement, the landlord shall either post in a conspicuous place on the premises, or at the place at which rental is paid a statement clearly indi...
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