Beaufort County

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

—

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

No

Grandfathering: Upon adoption of the ordinance, existing STRPs were given 60 calendar days to submit applications. Evidence: 'Upon adoption of this Ordinance, STRPs will have 60 calendar days to submit applications to comply with the provisions of this Article and until April 1, 2020 to obtain all required Short-Term Rental Property (STRP) Permits for the STRP use.' NOTE: the codified text references April 1, 2020 while the enacting ordinance (Ord. No. 2020/32) was adopted 9-28-2020 — an apparent internal inconsistency carried in the code; the compliance window is historical and closed.

Zoning: SPECIAL USE (discretionary ZBOA approval after public hearing) in: T2 Rural, T2 Rural Low, T2 Rural Neighborhood, T2 Rural Neighbor Open, T2 Rural Center, T3 Edge, T3 Hamlet Neighborhood, T3 Neighborhood, T3 Neighborhood Open, T4 Hamlet Center, T4 Village Center, T4 Hamlet Center Open, T4 Neighborhood Center, C3 Neighborhood Mixed Use. PERMITTED USE (by right) only in: C4 Community Center Mixed Use, C5 Regional Center Mixed Use. PROHIBITED in Community Preservation zoning districts and within the MCAS Airport Overlay District Clear, APZ-1, APZ-2, and Noise Zone 3. Evidence: 'PLEASE NOTE: Short-term Rentals will not be permitted within the MCAS Airport Overlay District Clear, APZ-1, APZ-2 and Noise Zone 3.' and 'Presently Short-term Rentals are not permitted within the Community Preservation Zoning Districts'. Allowed zones are governed by Article 3, Section 3.1.60 (Consolidated Use Table).

• Per-lot cap (not a jurisdiction-wide cap): 'Legally permitted Principal Dwelling Units and Accessory Dwelling Units may be used as STRPs; however, in no instance shall a single-family residential lot contain more than one (1) STRP. Accessory Structures shall not be used as STRPs.'
• Maximum rental TERM (not a minimum stay): an STHR is defined by 'individual rental terms not exceeding 29 consecutive days.' There is no minimum-night requirement in CDC 4.1.360.
• Case-by-case rental limits are possible: 'In cases where Special Use approval is required, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) may establish an appropriate rental limit as a condition of approval after conducting the public hearing and finding that conditions exist making such a limitation necessary.' No county-wide annual night cap exists in the code.
• Owner-occupancy is NOT required, but is disclosed: the application asks 'Is the Short-Term Rental Owner Occupied (circle one): Yes No'. CDC 4.1.360.A.1.b states an intent of 'Balancing the interests of owner-occupied dwellings with properties that are frequently used in whole or in part by Short-Term Rental Tenants' — an intent statement, not a mandate. No provision conditions a permit on primary residence.
• No numeric occupancy formula (e.g., per-bedroom) appears in CDC 4.1.360. The application collects 'Maximum Number of Bedrooms to be used for Short-Term Rentals' and 'Maximum Number of Guests', and occupancy may be conditioned via the Special Use approval. Recorded as null rather than guessed.
• Signage advertising STRPs is prohibited in Residential Zoning Districts.
• Fire safety operational standards (from the county Short-Term Rental Safety Checklist): address numbers at least 3 inches facing the road; fire safety plan posted on each level and inside each bedroom; smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside every bedroom, and on every level; smoke detectors over 10 years old replaced; CO alarms outside every bedroom on every level (not required if all-electric with no fuel-fired appliances); 36 inches clearance around gas/heating appliances; portable fire extinguisher minimum 2A10BC on every level, serviced annually.
• Tax assessments of the property may change due to its partial use as a Short-Term Rental Property (county notice; SC 4% owner-occupied vs 6% assessment ratio implication).
• SCOPE: this record covers UNINCORPORATED Beaufort County only. Incorporated municipalities within the county (City of Beaufort, Town of Hilton Head Island, Town of Bluffton, City of Hardeeville, Town of Port Royal, Town of Yemassee) set their own STR rules. The City of Beaufort adopted a separate STR ordinance on April 28, 2026 with density caps (3% of allowable parcels in the National Historic Landmark District, 4% of residentially zoned parcels per neighborhood elsewhere), spacing requirements, and a three-strike enforcement policy — that ordinance does NOT apply to unincorporated county territory and is tracked under the city-level record.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

STRP Permit may be administratively revoked by the Community Development Department Director after three or more violations within a 12-month period, or IMMEDIATELY for Building Code violations, absence of a Business License, use inconsistent with the STRP Permit, or advertising that omits the County-issued STRP Permit Number. After revocation, no new STRP Permit or Business License may be issued for the same property for one year; this may be waived only if the property is sold to an unaffiliated new owner AND a $500.00 penalty is paid at the time of the new application. Appeals go to the Board of Zoning Appeals within 30 calendar days. Separately, delinquent Local Accommodations Tax carries a 1.5% penalty per month until paid.

Notes

Enforcement is codified with a specific administrative revocation mechanism, a defined three-strikes-in-12-months trigger, immediate-revocation grounds, a one-year re-application bar, a named $500.00 monetary penalty, and a defined appeal route (BZA within 30 days per CDC Chapter 3, Article 3.13) — indicating a structured, non-dormant enforcement program. Note: no general per-day civil fine schedule specific to STRs was located in CDC 4.1.360; the county's general penalty provisions in the Code of Ordinances may also apply but were not quote-verified for this record. active_enforcement=true reflects the existence of a codified enforcement mechanism plus the mandatory ad-number/permit-number regime that enables listing-based detection; it is not a measure of observed citation volume.