Georgia short-term rental rules for owners

Georgia has no statewide short-term rental law. The legislature has neither guaranteed owners a right to rent nor limited what cities and counties may do, so the rules are written locally, and they range from a strict per-ward cap in Savannah to almost nothing in Augusta. For an investor, that means the first question about any Georgia property is not the state but the exact jurisdiction: city, consolidated government or unincorporated county.

Home rule in practice

Georgia's cities and counties use three main tools on short-term rentals: zoning, which decides where they may operate; certificates or permits, which add operating conditions; and business or occupation tax certificates, which almost every jurisdiction requires. A few examples show the spread:

• Savannah requires a short-term vacation rental certificate and caps non-owner-occupied rentals at 20% of parcels per ward in its Downtown and Victorian historic districts, with a waiting list once a ward is full.
• Atlanta licenses rentals and limits how many units a single host may run.
• Athens-Clarke County confines non-owner-occupied rentals to multifamily, commercial and employment districts, while owner-occupants can rent under a simpler home-occupation permit.
• Augusta-Richmond County has no rental-specific permit; a business tax certificate and the lodging taxes are the main obligations.
• Blue Ridge, in the north Georgia mountains, allows rentals inside city limits only in its central business district, which pushes most cabins into unincorporated Fannin County and its own rules.

Why a seller's permit may not help you

Georgia local programs usually tie the certificate or permit to the owner, not to the land. When a property changes hands, the buyer applies from scratch under the rules in force that day, and in a capped area that can mean joining the back of a waiting list. Ask the planning department for written confirmation that a new owner could obtain a permit at the address, and make your purchase contingent on it where you can. Rules are also revised often: Athens-Clarke, Savannah and Atlanta have all amended theirs in recent years.

Lodging taxes

Georgia taxes short stays in three layers, generally for stays of up to 90 continuous days:

• State sales tax of 4%, plus county and local option sales taxes.
• State hotel-motel fee of $5 per night, per room or unit.
• Local hotel-motel excise tax, set by the city or county at rates that differ from place to place and often filed monthly by the 20th.

Cleaning, pet and other mandatory fees are part of the taxable price. Airbnb, Vrbo and similar sites act as marketplace facilitators and collect the state layers on their bookings, and many local excise taxes too, but not always all of them. Hosts who take direct bookings register with the Georgia Department of Revenue and, where required, with the local government.

A federal detail born in Georgia

The federal "Augusta rule", section 280A(g) of the Internal Revenue Code, owes its nickname to Masters week: if you rent out a home you personally use for 14 days or fewer in a year, that rental income is not taxable and you deduct no rental expenses. It is useful for owners who let their own house for a single big event, and irrelevant for a full-time rental.

Insurance and associations

Georgia subdivisions, lake communities and mountain developments frequently carry covenants that ban or limit rentals, and state courts enforce them. On the coast, check wind and flood cover; in the mountains, check wildfire exposure, steep driveways, septic capacity and whether the policy covers guests in hot tubs and on decks. Ask any insurer explicitly whether commercial short-term use is covered.

Owner checklist

• Confirm who governs the address: city limits and county lines matter more than the postal town.
• Check zoning and any certificate or permit program, including caps and waiting lists.
• Obtain the business or occupation tax certificate.
• Register for state sales tax, the $5 hotel-motel fee and local excise tax if you take direct bookings, and find out what your platforms collect.
• Read the HOA or community covenants.
• Keep occupancy within septic and fire-code limits.

If you own a Georgia property or are weighing one, we study every request and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.