Short-Term Rentals 

With the growth of the "sharing economy," the City is seeing an increase in residents using popular websites like Airbnb and VRBO to offer their homes for short-term rentals.

Under the City's current zoning regulations, short-term rentals (rentals for a period of less than one month) are prohibited in residential zones R6, R9, RM-1, RM-2 and RM-3.

In zones where they are permitted, short-term rentals are classified as "Visitor Accommodations" and fall into two categories:

Hotel/Motel

Bed & Breakfast Inn

In addition to the required permits, the owner must also have a business license (PDF) and must pay accommodations tax.

Property Search

Use City Address Locator to see a property's zoning classification.

Zoning Classifications

R-6: Single-family residential district. The R-6 district is intended to preserve and encourage single-family residential development with a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet. 

R-9: Single-family residential district. The R-9 district is intended to preserve and encourage single-family residential development with a minimum lot size of 9,000 square feet. 

RM-1: Single-family and multifamily residential district. The RM-1 district is intended to encourage a mixture of low-density and medium-density housing types, including multifamily units, townhouses, single-family detached, and single-family attached dwellings. The maximum density for multifamily development is ten units per acre.

RM-1.5: Single-family and multifamily residential district. The RM-1.5 district is intended to encourage a mixture of low-density and medium-density housing types, including multifamily units, townhouses, single-family detached, and single-family attached dwellings. The maximum density for multifamily development is 15 units per acre. 

RM-2: Single-family and multifamily residential district. The RM-2 district is intended to encourage a mixture of medium-density housing types, including multifamily units, townhouses, single-family detached, and single-family attached dwellings. The maximum density for multifamily development is 20 units per acre. 

RM-3: Single-family and multifamily residential district. The RM-3 district is intended to encourage a mixture of medium-density to high-density housing types, including multifamily units, high-rise multifamily units, townhouses, single-family detached, and single-family attached dwellings. The maximum density for multifamily development is 20 units per acre. 

OD: Office and institutional district. The OD district is intended to provide for a wide variety of professional and business offices and institutions.

C-1: Neighborhood commercial district. The C-1 district is intended to provide convenience shopping areas and professional offices within which the daily needs of the surrounding neighborhood can be satisfied. 

C-2: Local commercial district. The C-2 district is intended to provide a limited range of general retail, business, and service uses as well as professional and business offices, but not intensive business or industrial activities, to persons living in surrounding neighborhoods. 

C-3: Regional commercial district. The C-3 district is intended to establish and preserve distinct areas for regional retail shopping centers. 

C-4: Central business district. The C-4 district is intended to preserve downtown Greenville as the city's center accommodating a unique, high-intensity mix of office, service, retail, entertainment, cultural, government, civic, light manufacturing, and residential uses. 

S-1: Service district. The S-1 district is intended to accommodate service-related uses, light manufacturing, and general commercial uses which may have large buildings and outdoor storage requirements. 

I-1: Industrial district. The I-1 district is intended to primarily accommodate those uses of a manufacturing and industrial nature and secondary, functionally related uses, such as distribution, storage, and processing. 

PD: Planned development district. The planned development district (PD) is intended to encourage innovative land planning and site design concepts that conform to community quality-of-life benchmarks and that achieve a high level of aesthetics, high-quality development, environmental sensitivity, energy efficiency, and other community goals.

RDV: Redevelopment district. The intent of the redevelopment district (RDV) is to promote appropriate investment and development in areas that are depressed or underdeveloped. 

PO: Preservation overlay district. The city recognizes that the historic and architectural resources of the city are among its most important assets, and uses district-specific development standards.

NRO: Neighborhood revitalization overlay district. The purpose of the neighborhood revitalization overlay district (NRO) is to enhance the compatibility of new development with design guidelines established for each neighborhood master plan approved by city council. 

SSOD: Special Sign Overlay District. The purpose of the special sign overlay district (SSOD) is to address the size and type of freestanding signs allowed without changing the base zoning classification of properties to which it is applied. 

AP: Airport protective overlay district. The airport protective overlay district (AP) is established to ensure against safety hazards, noise, and obstruction problems associated with aircraft utilizing the Greenville Downtown Airport. 

SFHA: Special flood hazard area overlay district. The special flood hazard area overlay district (SFHA) is established to protect the public health, safety, and general welfare by minimizing public and private losses resulting from flood conditions in specific areas of the city. 

FRD: Flexible Review District. The FRD is intended to provide design and use flexibility to allow development and redevelopment of properties that is compatible with the existing character of the area as set forth by the city's comprehensive plan.