Blue Ridge

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

No numeric occupancy cap is set by ordinance. The owner self-declares a maximum occupancy in the certificate application, which must equal the number advertised to renters, and overnight occupancy may not exceed that declared figure.

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

—

Grandfathering: Yes — Sec. 10-199(b) provides three tiers: (1) an owner currently operating an STR on property NOT within an eligible zoning category who has been paying the monthly hotel/motel tax as required by law is grandfathered and may continue 'until there is a change in ownership of said property'; (2) if the property is zoned C-1 (Limited Commercial) or C-2 (General Commercial), operation 'my [sic] continue even with a change in ownership of the property'; (3) if a building permit was applied for on a C-1 or C-2 property prior to January 1, 2023, the property 'can obtain a short-term rental permit and be grandfathered'. All other terms and conditions of Article V still apply to any grandfathered STR. NOTE: Sec. 10-199(b) refers to C-1 as 'Limited Commercial' and C-2 as 'General Commercial', whereas the Land Use Code (Ch. 140, Arts. VII–VIII, as amended by Ord. No. BR2023-20, 8-15-2023) names them 'C-1 Neighborhood Commercial' and 'C-2 Community Commercial' — an internal naming inconsistency between the business-regulations and land-use chapters.

Zoning: STVRs may be operated ONLY on properties zoned Central Business District (CBD). Code Sec. 10-193: 'Short-term vacation rentals may be offered to the public for rental only on properties zoned Central Business District (CBD).' Independently corroborated by the Land Use Code use table (Table 140-341(a), Ord. No. BR2023-20, 8-15-2023), where the row 'Short Term Vacation Rentals' (additional requirements: Sec. 140-342(aa)) carries an 'X' solely in the CBD column and is blank for C-1, C-2, M-1, R-A, R-1, R-2 and R-3. An 'X' denotes a use 'allowed in that zoning district by right'. Sec. 140-342(aa) ('Accommodation Lodging') states: 'For additional requirements, see Chapter 10, Article V.' Net effect: new STVRs are prohibited in every residential district in the city and in all commercial/industrial districts other than CBD. Note that 'Bed and Breakfast (Home)' (Sec. 140-342(j)) and 'Bed and Breakfast (Inn)' (Sec. 140-342(k)) are separate, differently-zoned uses and are not the same as an STVR.

• Definitional floor: a residence offered for rental fewer than 14 days in a calendar year is NOT a 'short-term vacation rental' and falls outside Article V — 'The term "short-term vacation rental" shall not include any residential dwelling unit not regularly offered for rental, which shall be defined as any residence offered for rental less than 14 days in any given calendar year.'
• Definitional ceiling: an STVR is lodging 'for a period of time not to exceed 30 consecutive days'. Stays beyond 30 consecutive days fall outside the STVR definition and, for tax purposes, become exempt from the city excise tax (Sec. 2-625(4), permanent-resident/30-day exemptions) and from the state $5/night fee at day 31.
• No cap on the number of STVR certificates appears anywhere in Article V or the Land Use Code; 'cap_on_licenses' is recorded as null (absence of a provision) rather than false-by-inference.
• No primary-residence, owner-occupancy, minimum-stay, or annual-night-cap requirement appears in Article V.
• The definition of 'short-term vacation rental' expressly reaches all housing types while excluding group living: 'For the purposes of this definition, a residential dwelling shall include all housing types and shall exclude group living or other lodging uses.'
• Certificates are non-transferable; a change of ownership voids the registration and requires a fresh application plus fee (Sec. 10-194(b)).
• Application review is ministerial-but-conditional: a certificate 'shall be granted unless the applicant fails to meet the conditions and requirements of this article' and 'shall not be issued unless the owner demonstrates compliance with the applicable codes' (Sec. 10-195). False statements are grounds for revocation, suspension, penalties, and denial of future applications.
• Appeal route: a person aggrieved by revocation, suspension or denial may appeal to the city council in writing via the city clerk within 30 calendar days of the adverse action (Sec. 10-198).
• Jurisdictional caution: this record covers the incorporated City of Blue Ridge only. Much of the 'Blue Ridge' cabin-rental market sits in unincorporated Fannin County, which administers its own separate STR ordinance and lodging excise tax. Confirm whether a parcel is inside city limits before applying this record — the city's 8% excise tax and CBD-only zoning rule apply only within the corporate limits.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

Operating a short-term rental without a valid rental certificate on or after July 15, 2019 carries a MINIMUM fine of $250.00, with each occurrence constituting a separate offense (Sec. 10-197(b)). Guest-caused violations trigger notice to the STVR agent; failure to remedy may result in a citation prosecuted in municipal court, and upon conviction the city clerk or city attorney may revoke the STVR certificate and reject all applications for the subject premises for 12 consecutive months (Sec. 10-197(a)). False statements in an application are independent grounds for revocation, suspension, penalties, and denial of future applications (Sec. 10-195). Separately, hotel-motel excise tax delinquency draws a 15% civil penalty on the tax plus interest at 1% per month; deficiency determinations may be issued within three years, and the city may sue to collect within three years including court costs and attorney's fees.

Notes

IMPORTANT CALIBRATION: active_enforcement=true is grounded in codified, mandatory enforcement machinery plus one observable administrative practice — NOT in documented enforcement statistics, citation counts, or news reporting, none of which were located in primary sources during this research. The supporting indicators are: (1) the ordinance obligates the designated STVR agent to receive service of violation notices and to actively 'monitor the short-term vacation rental unit for compliance with this article'; (2) Sec. 10-194(c) requires certificate holders to disclose their Airbnb/Vrbo/HomeAway listing identification number on every monthly tax return, which is a listing-to-permit reconciliation mechanism — the standard tooling for detecting unpermitted operators; (3) the city's own published guidance mandates monthly reporting even in zero-rental months ('REPORTS ARE DUE BY THE 20TH OF EACH MONTH EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO RENTALS FOR THE MONTH'), indicating continuous compliance monitoring rather than complaint-only response; and (4) the fine is structured as a per-occurrence minimum, which compounds. A consumer of this record wanting enforcement-intensity data (actual citations issued, revocations, sweep activity) should treat that as unresearched.