Folly Beach Rental Market Overview
Folly Beach is a barrier island city in Charleston County, roughly 10 miles south of downtown Charleston, incorporated as a town in 1938 and chartered as a city in 1973. It covers 18.87 square miles total -- 12.51 square miles of land and 6.36 square miles of water -- and its Census-reported population has moved sharply in the last decade: 2,617 in 2010, down to 2,078 in 2020, a 20.6% decline. That drop tracks closely against the island's short-term rental boom: licensed short-term rental units grew from 329 in 2015 to 1,196 by 2022, according to figures the city's own short-term rental committee compiled, reaching nearly half of Folly Beach's roughly 2,391 total housing units before voters capped new licenses at 800 in a February 2023 referendum. The Census Bureau separately reports 55.8% of the city's housing units as vacant overall and a 12.9% rental vacancy rate, both consistent with a large share of housing functioning as vacation property rather than year-round residences. Against that backdrop, no purpose-built, multi-unit apartment community with its own published pricing was identified inside Folly Beach -- what long-term rental market exists here runs through vacation-rental agencies rather than a standard leasing office.
Common Lease Terms in Folly Beach
No apartment community publishes a standard lease for Folly Beach, so what follows is drawn from the terms the agencies serving its identifiable long-term listings describe on their own sites.
- Carolina One Vacation Rentals lists Folly Beach properties -- including a 3-bedroom townhome (20 Turtle Bay), a 4-bedroom house (45 Lempesis), and a 3-bedroom, pet-friendly house (321 W Hudson) -- as available for stays of 30 days or longer, framed as "30+ Day Rentals Only" rather than a fixed annual term
- None of the agency's own listing pages discloses a monthly rate, deposit amount, or pet fee; pricing is quoted directly to inquiries by phone
- Separately, the city's code has a Long-Term Rental license category distinct from its short-term rental license categories, so check the official code for the current day thresholds.
Local Tenant Protections
South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Folly Beach may have additional local ordinances that affect your lease.
- No Folly Beach ordinance identified for this guide adds tenant-facing protections -- habitability, notice periods, deposit handling -- beyond South Carolina's statewide baseline for a standard annual lease
- Folly Beach's code addresses short-term rentals extensively; see the official code for how it treats long-term tenancies.
- City Hall, at 21 Center St, was confirmed inside Folly Beach's incorporated city limits using the Census Bureau's geocoder, consistent with the whole island sitting within one municipal boundary rather than the patchwork jurisdiction seen on some mainland Charleston-area addresses
South Carolina statewide rules
Security deposit limits, deposit return deadlines, landlord entry notice, and rent rules are set by state and local law, and they change over time. Our South Carolina pages on late fees and security deposit interest link the primary statute and show when it was last checked. Confirm the current rule with the statute itself or a local tenant resource before relying on it.
For full South Carolina statewide tenant rights, see our South Carolina tenant rights guide.
Mandatory Fees and Costs for Folly Beach Long-Term Rentals
Because Folly Beach's identifiable long-term rental channel runs through vacation-rental agencies rather than a standard apartment community, no public fee schedule could be confirmed for an actual annual-style lease as of September 2026.
- Carolina One Vacation Rentals advertises three Folly Beach properties available for 30-day-or-longer stays but does not publish a deposit amount, pet fee, or application fee on its site; terms are quoted directly to inquiries
- Some states limit application, pet, or administrative fees and others don't, and these rules change. Check your state's current statute or a local tenant resource. Whatever the law allows, the lease and any application terms list what you will be charged, so confirm each fee in writing before you sign.
- Short-term-rental operators face a separate, unrelated cost: a business license fee set by the city's fee schedule, which is an operator's licensing cost, not a fee charged to a long-term tenant.
A rental agency that quotes pricing only on inquiry isn't unusual in a market this small and this vacation-oriented -- but it does mean confirming the deposit amount, pet policy, and exact lease length in writing before treating any listing as a standard annual lease.
Folly Beach's Housing Squeeze: How Short-Term Rentals Reshaped the Market
Folly Beach's short-term rental market grew from 329 licensed units in 2015 to 1,196 by 2022 -- a nearly fourfold increase in seven years -- reaching close to half of the city's roughly 2,391 total housing units, per figures compiled by the city's own short-term rental committee using five years of historical data through 2021. Facing projections that the share could climb to 60-70% without intervention, voters approved a citywide cap of 800 licenses in a February 2023 referendum, set at what the committee identified as the highest number of licenses ever recorded on the island. The city's rules also address license renewals, rental-activity requirements, and transfers, so check the official code for current terms. Neighboring jurisdictions regulate short-term rentals differently, so check each city's official code for current rules.
That imbalance tracks the island's physical limits: 12.51 square miles of land, largely built out, with Center Street functioning as the city's walkable commercial core -- a mix of surf shops, gift shops, restaurants, and bars (Aqua Beach Store, Folly Trading Co., Beachwear & Gifts, and NATIVE among the named retailers there) oriented squarely toward day-trippers and vacationers rather than a resident customer base. Against a housing stock where the Census Bureau reports 55.8% of units as vacant and only a 12.9% rental vacancy rate, a genuine year-round rental pool is thin, and what does exist is placed through the same vacation-rental agencies that handle the island's much larger short-term market.
A market where close to half the housing stock has cycled through short-term licensing since 2015 leaves renters little room to comparison-shop for a standard annual lease on the island itself -- mainland Charleston-area suburbs carry far more conventional apartment supply, typically at a fraction of what a Folly Beach vacation property commands.
Common Issues Renters Face in Folly Beach
These are the most frequent lease-related considerations this guide's research turned up for Folly Beach:
- Confirming whether a listing is a genuine 30-day-or-longer rental or a short-term vacation booking -- Folly Beach's own code and its everyday rental agencies are both built primarily around the short-term side of the market
- Thin long-term inventory compared to mainland Charleston-area suburbs, since close to half of Folly Beach's housing stock has cycled through short-term-rental licensing at various points since 2015
- Pricing opacity -- the identifiable long-term listings this guide found require a direct inquiry rather than publishing a monthly rate, unlike a standard apartment listing
- A 55.8% overall housing vacancy rate, per Census data, signals that a large share of Folly Beach's housing exists for seasonal or investment use rather than a stable year-round rental pool
Negotiating Your Lease in Folly Beach
Folly Beach's thin, owner-by-owner long-term rental supply narrows a renter's leverage further -- confirming specifics in writing matters more here than at a corporate apartment community with a standardized lease.
- Confirming the exact lease length and start/end dates before signing is reasonable, since the agencies serving Folly Beach's identifiable long-term listings frame availability around 30-day minimums rather than a fixed annual cycle
- Requesting a written deposit amount, pet fee, and any additional charges before applying is worth doing, since none of the identified listings publish this information
- Commonly negotiated: furnished-vs-unfurnished terms, since the identified inventory (beach houses and townhomes) skews toward vacation-ready furnished properties rather than a standard unfurnished apartment
- Comparing a quoted Folly Beach figure against nearby Charleston, Mount Pleasant, or James Island rentals -- mainland-adjacent markets with more conventional apartment supply -- can help gauge whether a specific quote is reasonable for the region
Local Tip for Folly Beach Renters
Before treating a Folly Beach listing as a standard annual lease, confirm which rental license category it holds under the city's code, since a listing's mailing address or photos alone won't tell you which category applies.
Frequently Asked Questions About Renting in Folly Beach
- What is the average rent in Folly Beach, SC?
- Folly Beach has no purpose-built apartment community with its own published pricing. Long-term rentals here run through vacation-rental agencies that also handle short-term bookings -- Carolina One Vacation Rentals lists Folly Beach properties such as a 3-bedroom townhome (20 Turtle Bay) and a 4-bedroom home (45 Lempesis) as available for 30-day-or-longer stays, but does not publish a monthly rate for either, directing inquiries to a phone line instead. Rent.com's own Folly-Beach-scoped search separately reports a $10,296/month average across its listed rentals -- a figure almost certainly skewed by the large multi-bedroom beach houses that dominate available inventory rather than a typical unit, and not treated here as a reliable benchmark.
- Why has Folly Beach's population declined even though it remains a popular beach destination?
- Folly Beach's Census-reported population fell from 2,617 in 2010 to 2,078 in 2020, a 20.6% drop. Over roughly the same period, its short-term rental market expanded sharply: licensed units grew from 329 in 2015 to 1,196 by 2022, according to figures the city's own short-term rental committee compiled, reaching nearly half of the city's roughly 2,391 housing units before voters capped new licenses at 800 in a February 2023 referendum. The Census Bureau separately reports 55.8% of Folly Beach's housing units as vacant and a 12.9% rental vacancy rate -- both consistent with a large share of the housing stock functioning as non-primary-residence vacation property rather than year-round housing. Full causal attribution can't be established from public data alone, but the scale and timing of the two trends line up closely enough that short-term-rental conversion is the most plausible driver identified for this guide, not a confirmed single cause.
- Does Folly Beach cap short-term vacation rentals?
- Yes. Folly Beach has capped short-term rental licenses, so check the city's official code for the current limit and how it was set. The city's rules also address license renewals, rental-activity requirements, and transfers, so check the official code for current terms. Neighboring jurisdictions regulate short-term rentals differently, so check each city's official code for current rules.
- Does Folly Beach have local tenant protections beyond South Carolina law?
- No local ordinance identified for this guide adds tenant-facing protections -- habitability, notice periods, deposit handling -- beyond South Carolina's statewide baseline for a standard annual lease. Folly Beach's own Code of Ordinances is built almost entirely around regulating short-term rentals (business licensing, occupancy, life-safety, and the 800-unit cap) rather than long-term tenancies; a Long-Term Rental (LTR) license exists for properties rented 30 days or more, but it functions as a landlord business-license category, not an expansion of tenant rights.
- Is a Folly Beach lease negotiable?
- Since Folly Beach has no corporate apartment community with a standardized lease, terms for any confirmed long-term rental would be set by an individual homeowner or their rental agency rather than a leasing office, so they likely vary property to property. Commonly negotiated in this kind of small, owner-by-owner market: the exact lease start/end date and length, since the agencies serving Folly Beach primarily advertise 30-day-minimum stays rather than a fixed annual term, along with pet policies and whether the unit is furnished or unfurnished.