Rent control rules in Dorchester County, SC — also known as rent stabilization or rent cap ordinances — limit annual rent increases and protect tenants from displacement.
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.
South Carolina is a strong home-rule state for zoning but takes rent control entirely off the table. Section 27-39-60, enacted in 1985, bars any county or municipal corporation from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing an ordinance that regulates the rent charged for privately owned single-family or multi-unit residential property. That preemption binds Dorchester County, Summerville, St. George, and Ridgeville alike. A tenant's only protection against an increase is the lease itself: during a fixed term the rent cannot change, but at renewal or on a month-to-month tenancy the landlord may raise it any amount. The one carve-out lets a government set rents on property it owns or subsidizes, such as public or Section 8 housing.
There is no rent ceiling to violate in Dorchester County. Any local ordinance attempting to cap rent would be void under Section 27-39-60. A tenant's remedy for an unwanted increase is to decline renewal, not to challenge the amount.
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