Decatur

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

Overnight: two persons per guest room or sleeping room, plus two additional persons per property, OR a maximum occupancy as determined by the fire marshal — but never more than ten persons total. Daytime guests/visitors: overnight occupancy + 4 additional visitors, or 14 persons, whichever is less.

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

—

Grandfathering: Existing STRs were given 120 calendar days from the effective date of the short term rental provisions to become compliant. Verbatim: 'Where a short term rental exists at the time of the effective date of Section 6.3.7.B.3, Short term Rental, the short term rental owner shall become compliant with this ordinance within 120 calendar days.' (The codified text reads '6.3.7.B.3'; this appears to be an internal typographical error for 6.5.7.B.3, the section in which it appears.) The provisions were added by Ord. No. O-24-Z-05, §§ 2.1, 2.2, adopted 5-20-2024, implying a compliance deadline circa September 2024.

Zoning: Short Term Rental is a Limited Use ('L') under the Allowed Use Table (UDO Sec. 6.2) in all 13 of: R-85, R-60, R-50, RS-17, RM-18, RM-22, RM-43, PO, NMU, C-1, C-2, C-3, MU — with Def./Stds reference 6.5.7.B.3. The cell for the Institutional (I) district is blank, and UDO 6.1.3.D provides that '—' / no entry 'Indicates that a use is not permitted in the respective district.' Per UDO 6.1.3.B, 'Limited Use (L) — Indicates a use is permitted in the respective district, subject to a use standard found in the right-hand column of the use table.' Note that general 'All overnight lodging, except as listed below' is only Permitted (P) in C-2, C-3 and MU — short-term rental is the broad exception that is allowed in residential districts. STRs are permitted within accessory dwellings per UDO 6.8.3, but not in accessory/non-habitable/temporary structures.

• No primary-residence / owner-occupancy requirement: 'Short term rentals, whether there is a primary owner in residence or not, shall not be permitted in accessory structures, non-habitable structures, nor temporary structures, such as recreational vehicles, tents, canopies, yurts, or similar structures.'
• No numerical cap on the number of STR permits was found anywhere in the UDO or Code. The Oct. 1, 2024 staff fee memo noted 'there are currently approximately 130 short term rentals identified within the City' — a count, not a cap.
• No minimum stay is imposed. The 30-day threshold is definitional: UDO 12.1.1 defines 'Short-term rental' as 'The primary use of all or part of a dwelling unit by rental for temporary occupancy for dwelling, sleeping, or lodging of less than 30 consecutive days.' Stays of 30+ consecutive days simply fall outside the STR definition.
• Prohibited in accessory structures, non-habitable structures and temporary structures (RVs, tents, canopies, yurts or similar). Permitted within accessory dwellings in accordance with UDO 6.8.3.
• 'Only single dwelling units in compliance with City Code shall be used as short term rentals. In duplexes, walk up flats, and stacked flats, no more than one dwelling unit per building may be rented or used at a time as a short term [rental].'
• Outdoor amplified sound other than household speakers is prohibited at any STR.
• 'Recycling and refuse storage bins shall be stored within screened storage areas.'
• A copy of the STR permit listing all applicable standards and limits must be posted within six feet of the front door and included in all rental agreements.
• Distinct from 'Lodginghouse', a separate overnight-lodging subcategory that DOES require a full-time resident manager residing on site, caps guest rooms at eight in residential districts, requires min. 3,500 sq ft, and limits stays to 30 days. Those lodginghouse rules do NOT apply to short term rentals.
• Decatur (DeKalb County) is a separate incorporated municipality from unincorporated DeKalb County; DeKalb County's own STR ordinance does not govern properties inside the City of Decatur city limits.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

Violations of the UDO (including the short term rental standards in 6.5.7.B.3) are punishable under Decatur Code Sec. 1-12 by a fine not exceeding $1,000.00, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or a combination, with each day of continuing violation constituting a separate offense. Separately, the STR permit may be revoked or suspended by the City Commission for good cause after a hearing on at least ten days' written notice. Failure of the local designated property manager to respond to complaints within 60 minutes is itself a violation and is cause for revocation. Hotel/motel excise tax violations carry penalties under O.C.G.A. § 48-13-58 plus the Sec. 1-12 punishment, except where O.C.G.A. §§ 48-13-58.1 through 48-13-63 specify their own penalties.

Notes

Enforcement is administered by the UDO Administrator / Zoning Administrator, with a duty on all city employees including police and fire to report apparent violations. Remedies also include injunction/mandamus and a request that public utilities and city service departments withhold service until the violation is cured. Complaint intake runs first through the registered local designated property manager; repeat issues escalate to the Zoning Administrator, who may investigate zoning, licensing, or STR permit violations. The city funds a 24-hour resident hotline and an address-level STR software system out of the $125 permit fee, per the Oct. 1, 2024 staff memo — concrete evidence of an operating enforcement program. No dollar-per-day STR-specific penalty schedule appears in the code (the $500/day figure circulating in news coverage belongs to Decatur, ALABAMA, a different city, and does not apply here). active_enforcement=true is inferred from the funded hotline/software, the mandatory annual building and fire inspections, and the codified revocation machinery, rather than from a quoted enforcement-statistics source.