Have your evidence.

Keep the receipt from them and take the cost out of the security deposit.Understand that those with pets are often unaware of the hair/odors they leave behind so evidence to justify this is very useful.GailP.S.

The person with evidence wins.

A new law now allows enforcement officers to use online listings/ads as sufficient evidence to fine owners.It is estimated that there are 8,000 illegal STRs on Oahu.  

It became evident then the city was going to ******** their way through this process for an unknown amount of time. 

You are right about job creation - Texas has evidently created a cottage industry of contractors specializing in fixing crappy contractors mistakes.  

When your court date comes, make sure you come armed with as much evidence as possible supporting the fact that you did everything you could to find a tenant as quickly as possible.

Does anybody own or manage STRs in Charleston that could provide some empirical evidence, preferably analytically based, on their experiences?

There is already evidence of this happening.  

For example, if you were to investigate the party you mention, simply stating that they received child support is quite different than having a copy of a court order that awards those payments, PLUS evidence of those monthly payments such as a year's worth of bank statements showing the deposits to the applicants account.