Lexington County, SC Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (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.
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.
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?
Do young children count toward the occupancy limit?
Can the septic system limit occupancy below the two-per-bedroom cap?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lexington County
Compare Lexington County to another location·View the South Carolina short-term rentals overview
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