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.
There is no rental registry in Dorchester County the way tenant-heavy states impose one. Instead, renting real estate counts as doing business. Chapter 8 of the county code requires every person engaged in a business in the unincorporated county to obtain and annually renew a Dorchester County business license, and lessors of residential property fall within it, the fee set on gross rental receipts. The Town of Summerville imposes its own business license on rentals inside town limits. South Carolina sets no deposit cap, but Section 27-40-410 requires the deposit or an itemized deduction within 30 days, and a landlord of more than four adjoining units using different deposit standards must post or hand out those standards before signing.
Renting in the unincorporated county without a business license draws penalties under Chapter 8, including back license fees and fines. Withholding a deposit past 30 days without itemizing exposes the landlord to the tenant's damages under Section 27-40-410.
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