From 20% to 95% Compliance: How Mount Pleasant Set the National Benchmark for Short-Term Rental Enforcement

With the short-term rental (STR) renewal season approaching later this year—and a national housing crisis placing STRs under greater scrutiny than ever—municipal governments across the United States are under immense pressure to prove their enforcement programs actually work.

For many cities, the gap between policy and practice remains wide. But for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, that gap has been closed.

In just four years, this coastal town transformed its short-term rental compliance rate from an estimated 20% to an incredible 95–100%. Even more impressively, they manage nearly 400 annual permit renewals with just a single coordinator and a single platform.

At Deckard Technologies, we built Rentalscape for exactly this challenge: to give municipal governments the real-time data, enforcement tools, and operational infrastructure needed to run a short-term rental program that truly works.

The National Compliance Gap

As of early 2026, cities from Honolulu to New Orleans are deploying hard permit caps, density restrictions, and primary-residence-only requirements in an attempt to protect local housing stock and preserve neighborhood character.

However, the results have been mixed. The common thread among struggling municipalities is a massive compliance gap between policy creation and actual enforcement. Setting a cap is one thing; knowing exactly who is operating, whether they are licensed, and what to do about non-compliance is another entirely.

Mount Pleasant's Transformation

Mount Pleasant operates under one of its region’s strictest permit regimes, firmly capped at 400 STR licenses annually.

In the past, the town relied on tedious manual processes—like sending physical letters and scouring guest reviews—to identify rogue operators. Today, they run a program that is precise, auditable, and operationally lean. By leveraging Rentalscape, Mount Pleasant has built a model that municipalities across the country are increasingly looking to replicate.

The impact on daily operations has been night and day. Just ask Jane Yager-Baumrind, Mount Pleasant’s Short-Term Rental Coordinator:

"If they get rid of this, I quit. And I will not take a job at another place that doesn't have it."

Compliance First: The Deckard Difference

For Deckard Technologies, basic property identification is only the beginning of the solution. We believe in providing end-to-end visibility and workflow automation that empowers city staff rather than overwhelming them.