Beaufort residents with short-term rental horror stories demand action. ‘Something needs to be done’
Residents of one Beaufort neighborhood who are frustrated by a rise in short-term rentals (STR) and inconsiderate tenants and unkempt property are sparking a conversation about additional regulations. At a meeting Tuesday, they told horror stories about partying STR guests and garbage-littered property attracting rats and roaches.
They’ve got the ear of at least one city council member, Mayor Phil Cromer, who shares their concerns and is promising more discussion and possibly action. But whether this is a citywide problem isn’t clear. Some STR owners warned that the experiences described by some residents aren’t the norm and expressed worry that they would be shut down because of the actions of others.
Beaufort, which defines STRs as renting an entire house, a room, carriage house or an accessory dwelling unit for less than 30 days, already has rules governing short-term rentals (SRTs) including a 6% cap and limits on the number of guests and parking.
No action was taken at Tuesday’s work session, but Cromer, who requested that STRs be placed on the agenda, said the city will continue to address the issue. He also asked whether the city should have a “three strike policy?”
After three citations, short-term rental permits in Charleston can be revoked, and the property will no longer be eligible for short-term rental use for at least two years.
“We’ve had some complaints,” Cromer said. “We’ve also had some issues, in my mind, with some short term rentals.”
Concerns raised on the coast
Beaufort is the latest coastal community to take up STRs, which are apartments or houses whose owners rent them for short periods for income, often to vacationers. Their rise in numbers is raising a host of questions about oversight, ranging from how many people should be allowed to stay in STRs to parking to the lack of on-site oversight in some instances.
Myrtle Beach, for one, is looking at an ordinance that would require short-term rentals to designate a responsible local agent, available 24/7 in case of an emergency.
In Hilton Head, the Town Council is looking at limiting occupancy and parking.
And in December, Port Royal, worried about a proliferation of short-term rentals and their impacts on neighborhoods and housing availability, capped the percentage of rentals at 6% of residential properties.
Neighbors speak out
Several neighbors in one Mossy Oaks neighborhood of the city are particularly concerned. Not only are there too many short-term rentals in their neighborhood, they say, but many of the properties are unkempt and being rented to people who disturb the peace.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” said Kaina Robinson who lives in Mystic Circle. “And I would like some kind of overhaul. Something needs to be done because it’s scary.”
Robinson said he loves the neighborhood. But he was forced to put up a privacy fence because of all of the people who were coming and going at the STR next door. He’s witnessed teenagers drinking and fighting or sitting on the front porch smoking weed. “That’s not the neighborhood I moved into when I bought the place,” said Robinson, adding it puts him on edge when he doesn’t know the people especially since he has a wife and 4-year-old daughter.
John Lemieux is a 96-year-old man who lives in the Mossy Oaks neighborhood. Cheryl Martin, his daughter, spoke for him. She worries about her father because of the many short-term rentals in the area.
Martin listed a litany of issues:
- STR guests jumping her father’s fence
- Guns found in the bushes near his property
- Drinking and carrying on
- Short-term rental tenants telling long-term residents doing yard work, such as cutting the grass, to keep it down because they are on vacation.
“We’ve called the cops six times in the last four months so something has to give as far our neighborhood goes,” Martin said.
227 short-term rentals?
Michael Andersen, another Mossy Oaks residents, said at one point last year 33% of the houses in his neighborhood were being used for short-term rentals. That figure is now hovering around 18%, he says. At some of the properties, trash cans without lids and piled up garbage has attracted rats and German roaches. Based on court records, he also suspects that a tenant of one short-term rental was a drug dealer who was moving around to different short-term rentals across the city. He respects private property rights, Andersen says, but “we have people unfortunately who are making it worse for everybody else.”
Current rules require STR operators to have property management plan and an inspection is required before a business license is issued. The owners of units found to be operating without city approval must pay a $1,000 short term rental application fee compared to the usual fee of $100. Property owners who do not apply within 60 days wont’ be approved for two years.
The city’s website says 227 short-term rentals are located across the city but Finance Manager Alan Eisenman said that figure might need to be updated. The city tracks the numbers monthly.
STR operators: Will we be shut down?
While some residents are raising issues about the number of short-term rentals and the behavior of some guests, two SRT operators said they should not be painted with a broad brush. If the number of short-term rentals in the city is limited, said Eve Fleming, who has a short-term rental on 1st Avenue, would the city “cut us off.” “That’s my question.”
Current short-term rental operators would be grandfathered in, Mayor Cromer said.
Caroline Coslick, who runs an STR with Fleming, said she was sorry that others have had bad experiences. But she works with Airbnb, which she says has strict regulations on guests.
“The people come with a history of the previous places they have rented across the county,” Coslick said.
The people she rents to are often families of local Marines and she has “never had any kind of problem whatsoever.”
She suspects some of the problems may be occurring at locations where the property may be licensed but the owner is not using a company that vets the guests.
Clustering concerns
Cromer says he’s concerned about clustering of short-term rentals in some neighborhoods and even multiple short-term rentals on single properties which is like a hotel “right smack in the middle of a neighborhood” and creates “neighborless neighborhoods.” In some neighborhoods, he said, an entire an entire block is made up of short-term rentals. Council members say they also want clarification if three STRs on one property counts as just 1 STR toward he cap. Cromer says another work session will be planned where the issue can be discussed more.
“We need to get a situation where we can strike a balance preserving tourism but also we need to protect our neighborhood character, “ Cromer said. “We don’t want to have short rentals becoming party sites.”
The city also needs to ensure housing affordability because houses that get “flipped” and turned into STRs removes potential affordable housing from the housing stock, he added.
Curt Freese, the city’s Community Development directed, said he could bring issues raised by the City Council about STRs to the Planning Commission, which is already in the process of reviewing the city’s development codes. He said he would also meet with the code enforcement office and Eisenman, the city’s finance director, about tracking and enforcement issues.
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM.
