Renting in Briarcliffe Acres? Here's What You Need to Know Before You Sign

Briarcliffe Acres Rental Market Overview

Briarcliffe Acres is a 0.64-square-mile town in southeastern Horry County, sitting directly between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach along U.S. Route 17, which forms the town's northern border and leads about 4 miles northeast to the center of North Myrtle Beach. Founded in the 1950s as a planned retirement community by Kenneth Ellsworth (a native of Briarcliff Manor, New York), it has since broadened into a family-oriented alternative to the larger beach developments on either side of it. As of September 2026, this guide's research could not identify a published rent figure or a single named apartment or multi-family rental community operating inside town limits -- consistent with a 2022 Census American Community Survey estimate putting the town's mean household income at $134,375, which MSN.com ranked the 4th-richest city in South Carolina in 2024 and Forbes ranked 6th in 2023.

Common Lease Terms in Briarcliffe Acres

With no identified apartment community or leasing office to source a specific lease from, what follows is pieced together from Census data, the town's own published ordinance index, and a direct jurisdiction check rather than a single property's own paperwork:

• A 2022 Census American Community Survey estimate puts the town's mean household income at $134,375 -- among the highest of any incorporated place in South Carolina, and roughly double South Carolina's statewide median household income of about $72,350
• South Carolina's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 40) supplies the default lease terms -- notice periods, entry rules, deposit handling -- for any Briarcliffe Acres tenancy where the lease itself is silent
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Briarcliffe Acres Town Hall (121 S Gate Rd) resolves cleanly inside the incorporated Town of Briarcliffe Acres -- despite carrying a "Myrtle Beach, SC 29572" mailing address, a mismatch worth knowing before assuming a property's mailing city tells you which town's rules apply
• The town operates under a mayor and four-member town council, each serving four-year terms -- a conventional small-town structure, not a homeowners'-association or gated-community governance model

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Briarcliffe Acres may have additional local ordinances that affect your lease.

• South Carolina law preempts local rent control statewide (S.C. Code §27-39-60) -- no South Carolina city or county, including Briarcliffe Acres, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• Unlike several small South Carolina towns covered elsewhere on this site that rely entirely on their county for zoning, Briarcliffe Acres administers its own zoning ordinance (Chapter 32 of the town's Code of Ordinances, in effect through at least December 2022 per the town's own published index) -- built to keep the town predominantly single-family residential, with separate conservation/preservation and church/school/community-purpose districts, and no identified commercial or business district
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Briarcliffe Acres Town Hall resolves cleanly to "Briarcliffe Acres town" even though its own street address carries a "Myrtle Beach, SC 29572" mailing city -- confirmed, not assumed, on this one address
• Whether Briarcliffe Acres administers a separate business-license ordinance could not be confirmed from publicly available sources -- the town's own ordinance index links only building-permit paperwork, and its full municipal code did not render for direct review in this guide's research (checked September 2026)

For full South Carolina statewide tenant rights, see our South Carolina tenant rights guide.

Mandatory Fees at Briarcliffe Acres Rentals

No fee schedule could be independently confirmed for a Briarcliffe Acres rental, since this guide could not identify any leasing office or managed rental community operating inside town, as of September 2026.

• No property-level housing data was found for Briarcliffe Acres specifically, so no application fee, pet fee, or deposit amount could be published for any specific property in town
• No zoning district for commercial or business use could be identified in the town's own published district list, consistent with the absence of any leasing office to confirm a fee schedule against
• South Carolina law sets no statutory cap on application fees, pet fees, or administrative fees -- whatever a specific lease states is what governs

A town with no identified rental community isn't automatically a red flag -- but it does mean every fee, deposit amount, and lease term is worth confirming directly with the landlord, in writing, before signing anything.

A Boom, a Bust, a Rebound, and a Mailing Address That Doesn't Match the Map

The U.S. Census Bureau's decennial counts show Briarcliffe Acres moving in a pattern this guide hasn't found on any other small South Carolina town covered so far: 338 residents in 1980, then a sharp 63.3% jump to 552 by 1990 as the community filled in after its 1950s founding. The next two decades reversed course -- down to 470 by 2000 (-14.9%) and 457 by 2010 (-2.8%) -- before the 2020 Census recorded a rebound to 479 residents (+4.8% over 2010), the town's first growth decade since the 1980s. A 2022 Census American Community Survey estimate puts the town's mean household income at $134,375, which MSN.com ranked the 4th-richest city in South Carolina in 2024 and Forbes ranked 6th in 2023 -- figures consistent with a town built, from its founding, as a planned retirement and now family-oriented community rather than a working rental market.

Briarcliffe Acres sits directly between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach, both covered elsewhere on this site, with U.S. Route 17 forming its northern border and leading about 4 miles northeast to the center of North Myrtle Beach. This guide's research found a genuine, confirmed jurisdiction wrinkle in that location: Briarcliffe Acres' own Town Hall (121 S Gate Rd) carries a "Myrtle Beach, SC 29572" mailing address, yet the U.S. Census Bureau's public geocoder confirms the address resolves inside the incorporated Town of Briarcliffe Acres, not Myrtle Beach city. That's the reverse of the pattern this guide usually flags on small South Carolina towns, where a town's own name on an address turns out not to guarantee the town's jurisdiction -- here, a neighboring city's name on the address doesn't rule it out either. The town does administer its own zoning ordinance (Chapter 32, in effect through at least December 2022), built to keep Briarcliffe Acres predominantly single-family residential with conservation/preservation and church/school/community-purpose districts -- this guide's research did not identify a commercial or business-zoned district anywhere in the town's own district list, and no commercial property or business-license ordinance could be confirmed from publicly available sources.

Common Issues Renters Face in Briarcliffe Acres

These are the most frequent lease-related considerations identified for Briarcliffe Acres, based on the research for this guide:

• No apartment or multi-family rental community could be confirmed operating inside Briarcliffe Acres from the sources this guide checked, consistent with the town's own zoning code keeping it predominantly single-family residential
• A "Myrtle Beach, SC" mailing address inside this corridor does not reliably tell you whether a specific parcel sits inside Briarcliffe Acres or Myrtle Beach itself -- this guide confirmed the town's own Town Hall carries a Myrtle Beach mailing address despite sitting inside Briarcliffe Acres' incorporated boundary, so a prospective tenant should check a specific address against the Census Bureau's free public geocoder rather than assume from the mailing city alone
• Briarcliffe Acres' mean household income ($134,375, 2022 ACS estimate) points to a market with little to no cost-driven rental demand compared to most other small South Carolina towns this guide has covered
• Whether Briarcliffe Acres enforces a business-license requirement on any commercial activity is an open research question, not a confirmed no -- the town's own ordinance index didn't publish the full code text for direct review

Negotiating Your Lease in Briarcliffe Acres

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Briarcliffe Acres' rental market has no identified apartment community or leasing office to benchmark a specific offer against.

• A full written lease, rather than a verbal or partial agreement, is especially worth requesting in a market like Briarcliffe Acres', where the counterparty is more likely an individual homeowner renting out a single-family property than a company with a standard leasing template already in place
• Comparing a specific quote against nearby Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, or Surfside Beach, all covered elsewhere on this site, can help gauge whether a Briarcliffe Acres rent or fee fits regional coastal norms
• Confirming a specific address's actual jurisdiction using the Census Bureau's free public geocoder is worth doing for any Briarcliffe Acres-area property, since this guide found the town's own Town Hall carries a "Myrtle Beach, SC" mailing address despite sitting inside Briarcliffe Acres' own boundary

A market with no identified rental community isn't automatically a red flag -- but with no comparison listing to check a quote against, confirming every fee, deposit amount, and lease term directly with the landlord, in writing, matters more here than in a market with visible competition.