Effingham County, GA Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Section 3.46.11 of the Effingham County Zoning Ordinance, titled Occupancy and Use, governs how an accessory dwelling unit can be used once it is built. Subsection A permits long-term residential occupancy without any additional restriction beyond the ADU standards already covering size, ownership, and permitting in the rest of § 3.46. Subsection B allows short-term rental of an ADU, but only if the rental complies with all applicable county regulations, meaning an ADU is not automatically exempt from whatever short-term rental permitting, occupancy tax, or registration rules apply county-wide; it has to clear those separately from the ADU permit itself.

Subsection C draws the line at commercial use: an ADU cannot be operated as an independent commercial operation unless the zoning ordinance expressly permits that use elsewhere, which keeps an ADU from becoming, for example, a standalone retail shop or office rented out apart from any residential function. Because § 3.46.2.E requires the ADU to stay in common ownership with the principal dwelling and forbids subdividing or platting it separately, any rental, long-term or short-term, has to be by the same owner who holds the main house, not an independently sold unit. Violations of the occupancy rules are enforced under § 3.46.13, alongside the rest of the ADU framework adopted between June 2025 and May 2026.