North Charleston, SC Short-Term Rentals: Taxes & Fees (2026)

Section 4-21(i) sets the STR-specific fee schedule: $350 for the initial permit for an STR unit, and $250 for each renewal permit. The section is explicit that those permit fees are charged in addition to the business license fees and accommodations taxes the operator otherwise owes, not instead of them, and Section 4-21(b)(11) requires the registration behind that permit to be renewed every year by February 28. Separately, condition (b)(10) makes payment of all required taxes an ongoing condition of the conditional-use permit itself, so a short-term rental that falls behind on its accommodations tax is not just a tax collections matter but a zoning compliance failure that can jeopardize the STR permit.

Because a separate business license, and by extension a separate STR license, is required for each individual short-term rental unit under (d), a property owner running several rentals pays the $350 or $250 fee, plus business license fees, per unit rather than once for the whole property, except for licensed hotels, motels and other transient housing which fall outside subsection (b) altogether. The city's finance department administers the business license and accommodations tax side of that obligation, while the planning and zoning department issues and renews the STR permit itself, and a lapse on either side can trigger the three-notice violation process in (b)(8).