Georgia · Atlanta

Atlanta

Atlanta permits short-term rentals in most of the city, subject to a City of Atlanta Short-Term Rental License (STRL) issued by the Department of City Planning. NOTE: STRs are NOT permitted citywide — see the Home Park zoning prohibition below. The governing law is the "City of Atlanta Short Term Rental Ordinance," Ord. No. 20-O-1656, adopted by the Atlanta City Council March 15, 2021 and "approved by operation of law on March 24, 2021" (recited verbatim in the whereas clauses of 24-O-1687), codified at Atlanta Code of Ordinances Part III (Land Development Code), Part 20, Secs. 20-1001 through 20-1010. Regulations took effect March 1, 2022 (secondary reporting only — not confirmed against an official City page, which is WAF-blocked); enforcement began March 5, 2023 ("Enforcement of the ordinance is effective as of March 5, 2023" — City of Atlanta ATL311 knowledge base). An STR is "an accommodation where, in exchange for compensation, a residential dwelling unit is provided for lodging for a period of time not to exceed 30 consecutive days" (Sec. 20-1003). The STRL costs a non-refundable $150.00 application fee, is valid one year from issuance, and must be renewed annually; processing takes up to ten business days. A license "may be obtained by a short-term rental owner or the long-term tenant of a short-term rental for their primary residence and one additional dwelling unit without any additional requirements, fees, permits, licenses, zoning or related restrictions" (Sec. 20-1004(d)) — a de facto two-unit-per-licensee cap. Applicants must designate a 24-hour-available short-term rental agent, notify each adjacent property by certified mail, post written rules in the unit, post a legible copy of the license inside the unit (no external signage), and list the STRL number on each online listing. Maximum occupancy is limited to two adults per bedroom. Fully adjudicated violations carry a $500.00 penalty each; three violations for the same property cause the city to revoke pending licenses and reject all applications for that property for 12 consecutive months. NEIGHBORHOOD-LEVEL PROHIBITION (correction to prior drafts): On August 18, 2025 the City Council voted 11-2 to adopt an ordinance sponsored by Councilmember Byron D. Amos amending the zoning for the Home Park neighborhood (West Midtown, near Georgia Tech) to prohibit short-term rentals. "Atlanta will no longer issue permits to homeowners looking to operate short-term rentals in a neighborhood near Georgia Tech" (GPB). Existing licensees are grandfathered: "Current STR owners are exempt from the ban if they've previously obtained a permit with the city" (Rough Draft Atlanta). The ordinance number for this zoning amendment could not be located in any accessible source and is recorded as null pending review. A parallel proposal by Councilmember Howard Shook to ban new STRs across District 7 (parts of north Buckhead, Lindbergh) FAILED on November 17, 2025 — six members voted in favor but eight votes were needed to adopt — and is NOT law. Claims circulating in commercial STR blogs that Buckhead Forest, Ansley Park, Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, Inman Park or Grant Park carry their own STR zoning caps or overlays could NOT be corroborated by any primary or reputable source and are treated as unverified. CURRENCY NOTE — PROPOSALS THAT ARE NOT LAW: (1) Ord. 24-O-1687 (Councilmember Byron D. Amos) would raise the fee to $250.00, require liability insurance "in the aggregate of not less than $500,000," require a City of Atlanta Occupational Tax Certificate, bar a license "for a dwelling unit that is within 1000 feet of any other licensed short-term rental, measured from property line to property line," and cap STR licenses in a multi-family complex at "ten (10) percent of the total number of dwelling units." Its caption is stamped "(HELD 12/10/24 BY THE COMMITTEE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND FURTHER REVIEW)". It was held AGAIN by the Community Development Committee following a public hearing on approximately March 25, 2025, and as of November 2025 "a more comprehensive, citywide rewrite of the STR ordinance — introduced in December 2024 — remains held in committee." It has NOT been adopted. Widely circulated claims that Atlanta requires STR liability insurance or charges $250 derive from this un-adopted bill and are NOT current law. The specific "4-0" committee vote count asserted in prior drafts is NOT supported by the ordinance document and has been removed. (2) On approximately January 25, 2026, Councilmember Byron Amos introduced further legislation to create an Office of Short-Term Rentals modeled on San Francisco's, which would limit STRs to a permanent resident's primary residence occupied at least 275 days per year, cap unhosted rentals at 90 nights per year, require platforms to obtain permits and carry $1 million in liability insurance, and impose civil fines of $1,000 per listing per day. It was referred to the Community Development/Human Services Committee and has NOT been adopted. TAXES: City hotel/motel occupancy tax of 8% of rent (Sec. 146-79, levying "a tax of eight percent of the rent for every occupancy of a guestroom in a hotel in the city"), expressly applied to STRs by Sec. 20-1010 ("short-term rentals shall be subject to the hotel-motel tax of eight percent of the charge furnishing short-term rentals as permitted under O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(a)(5) and O.C.G.A. § 48-13-51(b)(7)(a)"); the Georgia state hotel-motel fee of $5.00 per night; and Georgia state+local sales tax of 8.9% on accommodations in Atlanta. Under HB 317 (fee imposed on rental charges collected by a marketplace innkeeper on or after July 1, 2021), marketplace facilitators such as Airbnb and Vrbo collect and remit the state $5.00 fee, and must collect and remit local hotel-motel taxes where their total Georgia platform charges are at least $100,000 in the previous or current year (a threshold Airbnb and Vrbo exceed). GEOGRAPHY NOTE: The City of Atlanta spans two counties — Fulton (13121, the seat and the parent recorded here) and DeKalb (13089). The 8.9% combined sales tax rate applies in both portions (GA DOR codes 060A "Fulton (Atlanta)" and 044A "DeKalb (Atlanta)").

Not legal advice. Last verified 2026-07-15 · sources linked below.