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

Fayette County Code § 110-79 lets property owners in the A-R district and all residential zoning districts build a guesthouse as one of eighteen permitted residential accessory structures, alongside garages, pool houses and storage buildings. Subsection (b) sets the baseline: 'Residential accessory structures shall not be used as dwelling units or for lodging purposes, except a guesthouse,' which already singles the guesthouse out as the one accessory structure allowed to hold living space. ' That means a homeowner may build and occupy a guesthouse for family, guests or on-site staff, but may not lease it out as a separate rental unit, short-term or long-term.

The section also cross-references § 110-169(2)(w) for conditional-use approval standards on single-family residences with accessory structures. Because a guesthouse combined with another accessory structure on the same lot is counted as a single accessory structure under § 110-79(c), a property owner cannot stack a garage-plus-guesthouse combination to add extra rentable square footage. Planning and Zoning administers this chapter and reviews accessory-structure plans through the standard building permit process before construction begins.