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Lexington County, SC Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Some Restrictions
Compiled from the official code textEditor Martyn O'NeillLast verified September 2026

Key Facts

Occupancy cap
2 persons per bedroom overnight
Under-5 exception
Children under 5 excluded from count
Hard ceiling
Capped by SCDHEC septic tank capacity
Governing section
Zoning Ordinance § 132.00(h)
Applies to
Unincorporated Lexington County STRs only

Summary

Short-term rentals in unincorporated Lexington County may not sleep more than two guests per bedroom overnight under Zoning Ordinance § 132.00(h). Children under five don't count toward the cap, but everyone five and older counts as an adult, and total occupancy can never exceed what the property's SCDHEC-approved septic tank can handle.

These county ordinances apply to unincorporated areas of Lexington County. Incorporated cities within the county may have their own rules that take precedence over county-level regulations.

Maximum Occupancy: The maximum overnight occupancy of short-term rental shall not exceed two (2) persons per bedroom, excluding minor children under the age of five (5) per bedroom. Persons over the age of five (5) will be counted as an adult. In no instance shall the bedroom occupancy exceed the capacity of the septic tank, as approved by SCDHEC.

View official code

Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 20).

Full Breakdown

00(h) of the short-term rental article sets a hard numeric ceiling: overnight occupancy of a short-term rental cannot exceed two persons per bedroom. The rule carves out one exception, minor children under age five are excluded from the per-bedroom count, but the ordinance is explicit that anyone five or older, regardless of relationship to the host or other guests, is counted as an adult for occupancy purposes. 00(h) layers on an environmental ceiling: in no instance can bedroom occupancy exceed the capacity of the property's on-site sewage disposal system as approved by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

00(k), which requires the host to provide a Good Operating Condition Report from an SCDHEC-licensed inspector within 30 days of the permit application, including a pump-out of the tank, to confirm the system is sufficient for the added wastewater load a short-term rental generates. 40 is issued per individual property and must be renewed for any change of parameters, a host who wants to add bedrooms or otherwise raise advertised capacity has to update the permit rather than simply listing more sleeping space. 10; municipalities inside the county administer their own short-term rental rules.

Violations & Fines

Exceeding the per-bedroom or septic-capacity occupancy cap is enforceable as a short-term rental violation under Article 13. The Zoning Administrator or Short-Term Rental Administrator can revoke the zoning permit under Section 132.20, which forces a new application and a Board of Zoning Appeals Special Exception Review before the rental can reopen, and violations are also prosecuted as misdemeanors under Section 174.10, fined up to the Magistrate's Court maximum, with each day a separate offense.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many guests can stay overnight in a Lexington County short-term rental?
No more than two people per bedroom overnight, per Section 132.00(h) of the county's Zoning Ordinance. A three-bedroom rental, for example, can sleep six adults or older children overnight, but the county's septic-capacity limit can push that number lower if the on-site sewage system can't handle it.
Do young children count toward the occupancy limit?
Children under five are excluded from the per-bedroom count under Section 132.00(h). Anyone five or older counts as a full adult for occupancy purposes, so a family with a six-year-old and a three-year-old only adds one person to the headcount.
Can the septic system limit occupancy below the two-per-bedroom cap?
Yes. Section 132.00(h) states bedroom occupancy can never exceed the capacity of the property's septic tank as approved by SCDHEC, and Section 132.00(k) requires an SCDHEC-licensed Good Operating Condition Report before the permit issues, so an undersized system can cap occupancy below the standard two-per-bedroom limit.

Sources & Official References

Other rules in Lexington County

All Lexington County rules

Compare Lexington County to another location·View the South Carolina short-term rentals overview

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