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

Conway Rental Market Overview

Two Conway communities publish standard 12-month lease pricing directly on their own sites, as of September 2026, both managed by Greystar. Grand at Carolina Forest, on Bellamy Avenue, runs $1,399-1,725/month base rent across two- to four-bedroom apartments (1,073-1,661 sq ft), with Greystar's own "Total Monthly Leasing Price" -- base rent plus mandatory fees -- landing at $1,424-1,750/month. Cottages at Ridgefield, a one- to three-bedroom home community on Wild Palm Way, starts from $1,749/month base rent ($1,864/month total leasing price); its full range across bedroom counts isn't published on the pages researched. Near Coastal Carolina University, two additional communities lease by the bed or by resident count rather than by the whole unit -- The Pier Conway and College Town @ Coastal -- covered in the student-housing section below, since a per-bed rate isn't comparable to these per-unit figures without adjusting for bedroom count.

Common Lease Terms in Conway

These are the lease terms most commonly seen at the Conway communities researched for this guide.

• 12-month leases are standard at Conway's two Greystar-managed communities, Grand at Carolina Forest and Cottages at Ridgefield
• Near Coastal Carolina University, The Pier Conway and College Town @ Coastal lease per bed or per resident under individual billing, and College Town also offers a choice between a 10-month and a 12-month installment schedule at different monthly rates for the same floor plan -- confirm which structure a quoted price assumes before comparing communities

Local Tenant Protections

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

• No ordinance addressing landlord-tenant relations, rental registration, or rent control beyond the South Carolina baseline below was found in Conway's published municipal code index
• No local rent control; South Carolina Code §27-39-60 expressly bars any county or municipality from regulating rent on privately owned residential or commercial property

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

Mandatory Fees at Conway Communities

What follows is what each community's own website discloses (or doesn't), verified September 2026.

• Grand at Carolina Forest: monthly Pest Control $5/unit, Doorstep Trash Service $20/unit, and mandatory Renters Liability Insurance ("varies per leaseholder," no fixed amount shown). One-time pet fee $350 plus $25/month pet rent per pet.
• Cottages at Ridgefield: monthly Community Amenity Fee $110/unit and Utility Billing Administrative Fee $5/unit. One-time Utility New-Account Fee $10 at move-in and Final-Bill Fee $10 at move-out. No dedicated pet fee is itemized despite the community marketing itself as pet-friendly, and the security deposit "may change based on screening results" with no fixed amount published.
• College Town @ Coastal: a $299 nonrefundable Administrative/Facilities Fee, due annually at lease signing, covering application processing, resident and guarantor screening, on-site security, and amenity-space maintenance. The security deposit is listed as $0. Optional (not mandatory) add-ons include a pond-view upgrade (+$10/month), a fenced yard (+$20/month), and pool/clubhouse proximity (+$20/month).
• The Pier Conway's floor-plans page references a separate fee-disclosure document without itemizing amounts on the page itself -- treat as "acknowledges fees exist, amounts not published here."

Three of the four communities researched publish a specific fee amount; only The Pier Conway defers to an unpublished disclosure document. A published base rent or per-bed rate with no attached fee schedule doesn't mean no fees apply -- confirm the true total monthly cost before signing.

Student Housing Near Coastal Carolina University: A Separate Submarket

The Pier Conway and College Town @ Coastal both price housing around individual residents rather than a single whole-unit rent, a structure common near universities but different from a standard joint lease. At The Pier Conway, per-bed rates as of September 2026 range from $745/month for a four-bedroom "Springmaid" floor plan (sold out at that rate) to $1,699/month for the single-occupancy "Surfside" one-bedroom, with several floor plans already at limited availability or sold out even though the community is leasing for the Fall 2027 term. College Town @ Coastal prices its 2- to 5-bedroom "cottage" floor plans by resident count on a 10- or 12-month installment schedule -- for example, its four-bedroom "Quad" floor plan runs $965/month under the 12-month plan or $1,135/month under the 10-month plan for each of four residents.

A per-bed or per-resident rate isn't the same figure as a per-unit rate. Multiply by bedroom count, and check whether a quote assumes a 10-month or 12-month schedule, before comparing a Coastal Carolina University-area listing to a standard-lease community elsewhere in Conway.

Conway's Growth and Coastal Carolina University's Role in the Local Market

Conway grew from 17,103 residents in 2010 to 24,849 in 2020, a roughly 45% increase, part of the same broad growth pattern that put the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach metro area among the fastest-growing in the country. Unlike the coastal strip, Conway's growth isn't tourism-driven: it's Horry County's seat of government and home to Coastal Carolina University, which enrolled a record 12,006 students in fall 2025 -- its third consecutive record enrollment year and an 18.7% increase over five years, per the university's own announcement.

Local commentary on Horry County describes an economy split in two: a coastal strip built on tourism, seasonal employment, and vacation-rental development, and an inland interior anchored by Conway's institutions -- government offices, the university, and Conway Medical Center -- functioning as a year-round economy largely apart from the beach. That split carries into the rental stock: standard 12-month leases at Grand at Carolina Forest and Cottages at Ridgefield read like ordinary suburban rentals, while Myrtle Beach's market carries a large short-term/vacation-rental sector that Conway's doesn't.

Common Issues Renters Face in Conway

These are the most frequent lease-related considerations reported by renters and researched at Conway communities:

• Per-bed or per-resident pricing near Coastal Carolina University can look cheaper than it is if not adjusted for how many roommates share the unit
• College Town @ Coastal's 10-month and 12-month installment options carry different monthly rates for the same floor plan -- confirm which schedule a quoted price assumes
• Neither Greystar-managed community publishes a fixed security deposit; Cottages at Ridgefield states its deposit may change based on screening results

Negotiating Your Lease in Conway

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections. As of September 2026, dynamic pricing at Conway's two Greystar-managed communities means the base rent shown on their own sites can shift week to week.

• Confirm whether a Grand at Carolina Forest or Cottages at Ridgefield quote is the base rent or Greystar's "Total Monthly Leasing Price," which already folds in the community's mandatory fees
• At College Town @ Coastal, compare the total lease-term cost under the 10-month and 12-month installment schedules, not just the monthly figure, before choosing between them
• Request the full itemized fee schedule in writing at The Pier Conway, which references a fee-disclosure document not published on its floor-plans page

A published base rent or per-bed rate with no attached fee schedule doesn't mean no fees apply. Confirm the true total monthly cost, and total lease-term cost for installment plans, before signing.