🎯 Strisker: Bulletin - Folly Beach, SC
A forthcoming study will weigh options from keeping the 800-license ceiling to scrapping it with nearly 200 waitlisted operators watching the outcome
Cap Removal and License Transfers on the Table as Folly Beach Reviews STR Rules
A forthcoming study will weigh options from keeping the 800-license ceiling to scrapping it with nearly 200 waitlisted operators watching the outcome
Photo by Bre Smith on Unsplash
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PiMXcBDSzw&t=10s
The Folly Beach City Council has moved to commission an independent study of its short-term rental ordinance which will open the door to possible revisions of the 800-license cap that island voters narrowly approved by referendum in 2023.
At a July 21 meeting, a Request for Proposal planned to be issued by the council members and developed with help from the College of Charleston would measure the existing rules against data gathered from residents, visitors, and rental operators.
Check on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cityoffollybeach/posts/pfbid0rAQdaGANz6yqwUmi5dF84TqpvoXsUpcPEzEt859EU3fWv7aP6zzH2b1Zy3CEDh99l
What the study will examine
Framed as part of the city's 2026 strategic plan, the review is meant to test how the cap has performed rather than to change it on the spot. Mayor Pro Tem Katherine Houghton said the Request for Proposal will draw on public comments collected over recent months and will give researchers a defined set of questions to work through.
Folly Beach's Code of Ordinances, Chapter 117, Short Term Rentals
The official municipal code establishing regulations, licensing requirements, operating standards, and enforcement provisions for short-term rentals in Folly Beach
The proposals now in play cover a wide spectrum and runs from keeping the current ceiling exactly as it stands to removing it altogether. Council members also raised the prospect of allowing license transfers between owners which will broaden the inheritance and medical-hardship carve-outs already on the books. It will also ease the geographic or property-type limits that govern where rentals can operate.
The rules operators face today
Folly Beach caps investment short-term rentals at 800 licenses that reaches second homes rather than primary residences and leaves zoning untouched. When residents adopted the measure in February 2023, the island counted roughly 1,125 rental properties which is close to 43% of its housing stock. The cap has stayed maxed out ever since, leaving nearly 200 owners on a waitlist for licenses that free up only when others lapse.
Webb Wright
Operators also have to rent a qualifying home at least 28 nights a year to hold onto a license while annual fees for an investment rental start at $245 for the first $2,000 of income and rise by $2.75 for each additional $1,000.
Who is affected and what comes next
Any eventual change would land on investment owners who list on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo, on waitlisted buyers hoping for a way in, and on neighbors who have pointed to nuisance complaints and a fading sense of community.
The Folly Beach City Council continues to review the city's short-term rental ordinance approved by voters in 2023, an issue that has sharply divided the community.
— ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) July 22, 2026
READ MORE: https://t.co/AXc3TQ9K2V pic.twitter.com/x16RGcHhgr
Residents who favor loosening the rules argue the cap has thinned visitor accommodations and weighed on local commerce and home values while those defending it want stronger nuisance controls kept in place.
The city's next step is to release the Request for Proposal and select the research team whose findings will steer how Folly Beach handles short-term rentals going forward.
⦾ Effective date: No change enacted; a study is being commissioned (RFP pending, no timeline set)
⦾ Registration required: Yes, annual STR business license, with investment rentals capped at 800
⦾ Night cap: None; a minimum of 28 rental nights per year is required to keep a license
⦾ Penalty for non-compliance: Denial or loss of the rental license
⦾ Platform responsibility: No, enforcement runs through city business licensing, not through Airbnb or Vrbo
In case you missed it:
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Social Listening📱: Twitter
Strisker’s Twitter Signal pulls real-time posts from officials, agencies, advocacy groups, and local influencers—so you see emerging sentiment and policy signals the moment they surface. Track conversations by place, people, and topics, then zero in on what actually matters.
Stay Updated with STRisker!
STRisker offers tools and features to keep you updated with the Short Term Rental movement (and now Data Centers!) movement across the world.
👍 We’d love your feedback.
We're always looking for ways to improve Bulletins.
Was this one useful to you? Other topics you'd like to see get covered?
✉️ Just reply directly to this email. We read and respond to every message!
-Will McClure
🙋 P.S.
Know someone else who should be reading this Bulletin? Feel free to forward this along. We want to make sure operators and stakeholders are aware of regulatory changes in their area.