How many nights can you use your own Myrtle Beach rental?
The 14-day rule.

The short answer

A rental you also stay in is measured by days. Use it for personal purposes more than 14 days in the year, and it counts as a home. Use it more than 10 percent of the days it was rented, and it also counts as a home. The larger number applies. Then the expenses are split between rental days and personal days, and the rental share cannot exceed the rent. Below that, it is a rental with some personal use. Owners here exceed it often, because they were never told this.

What is the 14-day rule?

It is the test in the rental property rules that decides whether a rental counts as a home. Personal use of more than 14 days makes it a home. Personal use of more than 10 percent of the days it was rented at a fair price also makes it a home. The larger number is the one that applies.

A unit rented 200 nights allows 20 personal nights, not 14. A unit rented 100 nights allows 14, because 14 is more than 10. The rented-day count comes from your booking records. The limit is different for every unit and every year.

What counts as a day of personal use?

More than your own nights. A day counts as personal use when the unit is used by you or a family member. It also counts when anyone uses it for less than a fair rent, or under a deal that lets you use their unit in return. A friend who stays for a token payment is a personal day. A week swapped with another owner is a personal day.

One exception helps the owner. A day spent mainly on repairs and maintenance is not a personal day, even if you sleep in the unit. An owner who comes down to repaint between seasons is working. Keep the receipts and the dates. That is how you prove it.

What if you rent it fewer than 15 days?

Then the rental rules do not apply at all. If the unit counts as a home and is rented fewer than 15 days in the year, the rent is not reported as income. The expenses are not rental expenses. It is a second home that earned a little.

The count is exact. Fourteen rented days and the rent is yours with no reporting. Fifteen and the rules below apply, with the expense split and the income limit. If you rent a few peak weeks and use the unit the rest of the year, count the nights before you book the fifteenth.

How are the expenses divided?

Once a unit counts as a home, every expense is split between rental use and personal use. The split is the ratio of rental days to total days used. Mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, utilities, management, repairs and depreciation all split the same way. A unit rented 150 days and used 30 days puts five sixths of each cost on the rental.

Example with round numbers. The year's costs are $12,000: mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, utilities, management, repairs and depreciation together. Five sixths is $10,000 for the rental side and $2,000 for the personal side. The rent for the year is $9,000. The rental deductions stop at $9,000. Interest and taxes are taken first, then the operating costs, then depreciation. The $1,000 left over carries forward to next year.

The rental share then has a limit. In a year the unit counts as a home, rental expenses cannot exceed rental income. The property cannot show a loss. Anything over the limit carries forward. The deductions are taken in a set order. Mortgage interest and taxes first. Operating costs next. Depreciation last, which is the part most often unused.

The personal share of the mortgage interest and property tax is still deductible elsewhere. It is treated the way it would be on a second home, with the limits that apply there.

Why does this matter more on the Grand Strand?

Owners here buy to use the unit. Many of the condos we sell to investors are used by the owner for part of the year. The usual plan is to rent the summer and keep a few winter weeks. That plan goes over this limit more often than owners expect, because a busy summer raises the rented-day count and the 10 percent figure with it.

Three other day counts exist and they are all different. Renting your own legal residence more than a set number of days a year costs you the 4 percent property tax rate. That count is on our Horry County property taxes page. The 90 and 30-day limits on our accommodations tax page are about guests, not you. The seven-day average on our short-term rental tax page counts guests only. Your own nights affect none of those and all of this one.

The building has rules too. Some rental pools cap owner nights. Some charge for them. Some require the unit to be available in peak weeks. Those terms cap how much personal use is possible.

What should you settle before you buy?

We read the building's rules on owner use and the rental-pool terms for any unit before you make an offer. How many nights the building allows, whether it charges for them, and whether peak weeks are reserved for guests are all written down. We find them.

The day count is yours to keep. A calendar with rented nights, personal nights and work days marked separately is the whole record. It shows which side of the limit you are on in April. When the return needs doing, we can put you with a CPA who works on beach condos locally.

Common questions

14-day rule FAQ for Grand Strand owners

Is the rule 14 days, or 10 percent?

Both. The larger number applies. A unit rented 100 days allows 14 personal days. A unit rented 200 days allows 20, because 10 percent of 200 is more than 14.

Do days I spend fixing the unit count as personal use?

No. A day spent mainly on repairs and maintenance is not a personal use day, even if you sleep there. Keep the dates and receipts.

Does letting family stay count as personal use?

Yes. A day a family member uses the unit is personal use. A day anyone uses it for less than a fair rent is also personal use.

What if I rent it for fewer than 15 days?

If the unit counts as a home and is rented fewer than 15 days in the year, the rent is not reported as income. The expenses are not rental expenses.

Can the unit show a loss if it counts as a home?

No. In a year the unit counts as a home, rental expenses cannot exceed rental income. The excess carries forward. Depreciation is the last deduction taken.

Sources: Publication 527, personal use of a dwelling unit, Horry County Assessor, Guide to Assessment. Read September 4, 2026. Educational only, not tax advice. The count and the return are for your CPA.

Owner-use limits are written into the rental-pool terms.

We read them before you offer. Owner-night caps, charges and reserved weeks are all in there.