Charleston County does not impose a blanket primary-residence-only rule. A Limited Home Rental must be owner-occupied, but an Extended Home Rental may be owner-occupied or non-owner-occupied. The permit application asks whether the property is owner-occupied.
Article 6.8 splits STRs by owner-occupancy. A Limited Home Rental is defined as a property with an owner-occupied residential dwelling in listed residential/agricultural districts (RM, AG-15, AG-10, AG-8, AGR, RR-3, S-3, R-4, M-8, M-12, MHS), capped at 72 days a year. An Extended Home Rental may be owner-occupied or non owner-occupied, in S-3, R-4, M-8, M-12, or MHS districts, for more than 72 up to 144 days. For AGR/AG-8 Extended rentals, the owner must file an affidavit showing the property is their legal voting address or the address on their driver's license. So investors can operate an Extended Home Rental, but only through the stricter Special Exception path.
Renting an owner-occupied Limited Home Rental while not occupying it violates the permit definition and is enforced under Article 6.8.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Charleston County, SC
Charleston County treats animal hoarding through South Carolina's animal-cruelty laws and its own care, sanitation, and nuisance rules. Keeping animals witho...
Charleston County, SC
Charleston County has no blanket ordinance banning backyard wildlife feeding, but feeding that draws rabies-reservoir carnivores or creates a nuisance can be...
Charleston County, SC
Backyard composting is allowed in Charleston County, and the county runs a large composting facility processing nearly all landfill yard waste. Yard debris m...
Charleston County, SC
Charleston County has no ordinance specifically banning or requiring artificial turf on residential lots. Synthetic lawns are generally allowed, but must not...
Charleston County, SC
Charleston County does not require or ban native-plant landscaping on single-family lots. Its ZLDR landscaping and buffer standards for larger developments f...
Charleston County, SC
Yes. Rainwater harvesting is legal and encouraged in South Carolina, including Charleston County, for non-potable outdoor use. There is no county rule agains...
See how Charleston County's primary-residence-only rule rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.