Greenville County Council’s short-term rental ad hoc committee reviewed a working draft ordinance this week that would finally require the county’s estimated 1,200 short-term rentals in unincorporated areas to register with the county, but members voted to hold the measure in committee rather than send it forward. The draft would mandate proof of business registration, accommodations tax registration, and details on property owners and operators for short-term rentals.
According to the Greenville Journal, the committee discussed how the draft ordinance would affect those roughly 1,200 unincorporated rentals, weighing registration requirements against the practical challenge of enforcing them. The county currently has no process for tracking short-term rentals at all, creating a lack of data and difficulties collecting accommodations taxes. VisitGreenvilleSC estimates the county is missing around $900,000 annually in local accommodations tax revenue as a result.
Under the working draft, each short-term rental would need to register with the county zoning administrator, who would oversee the process. Registrations would require proof that the property is registered under Greenville County’s existing business registration ordinance, along with owner information, operator details when someone other than the owner runs the rental, property information, rental type, and proof of accommodations tax registration with both the state Department of Revenue and the county.
Staffing and Legal Language Still Unresolved
The committee identified the county zoning administrator’s staffing capacity as a potential obstacle to enforcing any new registration system, according to the same report. Compounding that concern, the county’s legal team described the existing business registration ordinance as containing conflicting and confusing language, raising the question of whether council should pursue parallel updates to that ordinance alongside the new short-term rental rules. The committee said it will consider outstanding questions about the draft’s language before moving forward…