Pickens County Launching New Registration Process for Short-Term Rentals

June 5, 2023

County Council approved a partnership earlier this year with Host Compliance, a nationally recognized company that specializes in identifying and monitoring short-term rentals. To date, Host Compliance has aided Pickens County in identifying over 400 short-term rentals throughout the county. While some of these are already in compliance with the Local Accommodations Fee ordinance, many are not.

The Local Accommodations Fee collections allow Pickens County to spend non-taxpayer funds on tourism related activities, including:

Tourism-related buildings, including, but not limited to, civic centers, coliseums and aquariums;
Tourism-related cultural, recreational or historic facilities;
Beach access, renourishment or other tourism-related lands and water access;
Highways, roads, streets and bridges providing access to tourist destinations;
Advertisements and promotions related to tourism development; or
Water and sewer infrastructure to serve tourism-related demand

Since its inception, the Local Accommodations Fee has been collected based on a self-reporting system. Moving forward, Pickens County will require all short-term rentals to become compliant with local law. Short-term rentals are subject to a local accommodations fee (see Pickens County Code of Ordinances, Article IV Section 10; Chapter 10 - BUSINESSES | Code of Ordinances | Pickens County, SC | Municode Library)

In Pickens County, a “short-term rental” is defined as:

any rooms, campground spaces, lodgings, or sleeping accommodations furnished to transients by any hotel, inn, tourist court, tourist camp, motel, campground, residence or any place in which rooms, lodgings, or sleeping accommodations are furnished to transients for a consideration

Short-term rental owners in Pickens County will soon be able to register with the new system. Additional information will be provided by Pickens County in the coming weeks. Welcome letters will be sent to all identified short-term rental owners in the county in July with instructions on registering with the new system.