Short Term Rentals are the talk of the town and it’s a constantly changing
landscape for Charleston and the surrounding barrier islands. We’ve seen some incredibly
favorable shifts, we’re looking at you North Charleston and Park Circle, and we’ve had some
not so great changes. So, we’re here to give you the lay of the land with the most recent
buzz on the street at good ole Folly Beach.
First, a bit of background on the short term rental game at Folly. Honestly up until
now we’ve seen a pretty flexible process in place that has certainly supported rentals.
Moreover, there’s been a steady demand for this pretty as pie and laid back beach town that
many visit year after year. However, we all know that population has grown in the
Charleston area and in our opinion because of this, and the fact that yet again our beloved
Holy City is the #1 Best City in the US (by our good friends at Travel & Leisure) and for the
10th year in a row, some long time residents wish for the good days of yesteryear. But, back
to the conversation at hand. Listen up because here’s the skinny.
1. STR Cap: Folly Beach has now restricted the number of Short Term
Rental Permits, capped at 800.
2. License Transfers: There is also no transferring a current license, so
that means that if you currently are buying or selling a STR permitted property the license
must be reapplied for after ownership has changed.
3. Vacation Rental Act: A Temporary STR license will be put in place if
there is a change in ownership to uphold the stipulations of the South Carolina Vacation
Rental Act. This allows the new owner to honor rentals that were in place before the sale of
the property. The new owner will also be required to provide proper documentation of the
sale of home, property bookings, and closing date to substantiate the need for this permit.
The above applies to owner occupied and investment rental properties that are
renting for a period of less than 29 days. Oh and the icing on the cake, if you had your
hopes up of securing a coveted beach front rental… the cap has already been met and all
new applications with the city will be waitlisted.
So it’s a “sorry folks park’s closed!” kinda scenario, which brings us to our next
thought, where are the best places for Short Term Rentals in Charleston County? Stay
tuned as we’re diving into that topic here soon, and we’ll give you the breakdown on where
to go and why.
Source: Kelly Stradling, Realtor ©
