Short-Term Rentals

What you need to know in Atlanta

The Short-Term Rental industry is complicated by patchwork regulation, dynamic inventory and variable demand. This site aims to demystify the regulatory requirements in Atlanta with up to date information and data. ATL Neighbors hopes that operators, customers and neighbors of Short-Term Rentals (STRs) find this information useful. Like Inside Airbnb, we hope to add data to the conversation through presentations, statistics and an interactive map. In addition, we aim to provide a curated catalog of resources helpful to all who operate, purchase or reside near a Short-Term Rental.

Applicable Regulations

There are several regulations that apply to Short-Term Rentals within Atlanta city limits. There have been a number of regulatory changes since Airbnb’s local regulation guidance was last updated in 2015. What follows is an abbreviated summary of newer regulation provided for your convenience and awareness; please read each ordinance in its entirety.

Licenses are Required

The City of Atlanta Short Term Rental Ordinance1 specifies that effective March 1, 20222 a license is required to operate a Short-Term Rental in the City of Atlanta. This ordinance has a number of provisions:

ATL Neighbors suggests STR operators start by reviewing the Office of Buildings Short-Term Rental Division Short-Term SHORT-TERM RENTAL LICENSE PROCESS. This documentation notes that "ANY PERSON MAY BE AN AGENT FOR THE SHORT-TERM RENTAL".

Short-Term Rental Division References

The most useful city resources for STR operators we've found include:

Zoning Restrictions

The Short Term Rental Zoning Ordinance3 defines a Short-Term Rental and effectively allows them everywhere there is a dwelling unit. Thus, there are effectively no zoning restrictions on Short-Term Rentals.

Short-term rental: means 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. An accessory dwelling unit may be used as short-term rental provided that the primary property owner resides onsite.

This new definition directly conflicts with the existing hotel definition in the same part of the city code. Perhaps the city will be able to deconflict the contradictory definitions before March.

Party House Ban for Residential Zones

The Party House Ordinance defines the term Party House in the zoning code and generally bans them from being located within 150 feet of residentially zoned property.

Reporting Issues

Guests

Airbnb

WikiHow provides a step by step process for customers to resolve issues with problematic rentals.

  1. Contact the operator directly
  2. Contact Airbnb via the contact us page on their website
  3. Verify refund eligibility
  4. Submit a refund request

VRBO

VRBO provides instructions for emailing the company property complaints.

Neighbors

Airbnb

Airbnb provides a web page here to report issues that impact the community around an STR. They state that they can contact the operator faster if you include a link to the listing in your report. You may find our reports (maps and presentations) helpful to discover Airbnb listings near you. You can also search Airbnb directly and AIRDNA is another useful resource.

VRBO

VRBO provides a web page here to report issues that impact the community around an STR. VRBO calls this the “Stay Neighborly Community Concern” form. One usability issue with this form is that the listing URL is required. You may find our reports (maps and presentations) helpful to discover VRBO listings near you. You can also search VRBO directly and AIRDNA is another useful resource.

City of Atlanta

For urgent safety issues, call 911. For code enforcement issues use the APD web page here or the ATL 311 web page here to submit a code violation. Ordinance 20-O-1656 also specifies that the “Department of Planning and Community Development shall establish and monitor a public intake portal” for citizens to submit questions or complaints; however, this portal becomes available email the City of Atlanta STR division at STR@atlantaga.gov.

Data

ATL Neighbors makes an attempt to track and publish Short-Term Rental activity. Our dataset is not comprehensive and only goes back to 2021. The listing sites do not make it easy to collect information, but we do our best. The data we provide here is provided on an “as-is” basis and we cannot guarantee that it is accurate or up to date. Listings are dynamic and come and go. Therefore our data may reflect a listing that is not currently available. Data is available in presentation form organized by neighborhood, in aggregate tabular form and in map form.

Guests

Guests may find our data useful to discover listings and pricing information for more than one listing service in a specific location of interest.

Operators

STR operators may find our data useful to discover how their competition prices nearby listings. If they desire, operators are able to provide the exact location of their listings.

Neighbors

Neighbors may find our data useful to report issues with nearby Short-Term Rentals to the listing platforms or to the City of Atlanta. In either case, including a direct link to the listing may speed up the resolution of any issues.

Regulators

Regulators may find our data useful for enforcement because the current ordinances do not require STR listing platforms to provide any data or other reports to the City of Atlanta.

  1. 20-O-1656 : AN ORDINANCE TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION AND TAXATION OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS WITHIN THE CITY OF ATLANTA ↩︎
  2. 21-O-0426 : AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND ORDINANCE 20-O-1656 SUCH THAT THE AMENDMENTS REFLECTED THEREIN SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE ON MARCH 1, 2022 RATHER THAN ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2021. ↩︎
  3. 21-O-0682 : AN ORDINANCE BY ZONING COMMITTEE TO AMEND THE 1982 ATLANTA ZONING ORDINANCE, AS AMENDED, BY CREATING A DEFINITION OF A “SHORT-TERM RENTAL” AND TO ALLOW A SHORT-TERM RENTAL AS A USE IN CERTAIN ZONING DISTRICTS ↩︎