Beaufort County, SC Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Beaufort County Code of Ordinances § 38-33 puts the duty to cut, trim and dispose of overgrowth on the owner, lessee, occupant or agent of any residential lot or parcel, and of any nonresidential lot or parcel that sits contiguous to a residential lot in the unincorporated county. Vegetation that becomes substantially overgrown so that it poses a safety risk or creates harborage for vectors (mosquitoes, rodents and the like) can be declared a nuisance by the county administrator. The one numeric break in the section: lots of three acres or larger are only required to cut 100 feet in from any contiguous road and from each side property line, so large rural or wooded tracts are not required to be mowed edge to edge.

Enforcement follows the same notice process used elsewhere in chapter 38: the county administrator serves written notice by personal delivery, certified mail, or posting on the property, and the owner has ten days to comply. If the owner misses that ten-day window, the violation becomes a misdemeanor under the penalty provisions of chapter 38. If 20 days pass after notice with no correction, the county administrator or a county-hired contractor may enter the property, cut and remove the vegetation, and place the cost as a lien on the property, recoverable in court if unpaid.