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

Section 5.02.02(E)(9) of the Gordon County Unified Land Development Code is the occupancy rule for a freestanding accessory dwelling in unincorporated Gordon County, Georgia. The unit shall only be occupied by family members, guests, or individuals employed full-time by the family residing in the principal building. The employment category is tied to a stated purpose: elderly or child care, housekeeping services, or the agricultural production of the property. The text names no fourth category, and it names no rent, lease term, registration or license requirement.

The definitions in the Unified Land Development Code read the same way. A guest house is defined as an accessory dwelling unit for use by a nonpaying guest or relative of the occupants of the premises, situated in a detached or semi-detached site-built structure on the same premises as the principal residence.

The accessory use table referenced in Section 5.02.01(B) carries Tenant Dwelling as its own line, separate from Accessory Dwelling, and marks it P (permissible as an accessory use) under the A-1 and RA-1 columns. Section 5.02.02 as printed does not use the word tenant, so its occupancy list is the text that governs accessory dwellings inside its scope.

Unit counts sit alongside the occupancy rule. A freestanding accessory dwelling unit is limited to one per lot on residentially zoned and industrially zoned property, and to five per lot on agriculturally zoned property where the Unified Land Development Code permits them. Section 5.02.02(B) keeps tents, boats, manufactured storage buildings and mobile structures, including RVs and travel trailers, out of the accessory dwelling category, with one exception: occupancy in a campground or travel trailer park as the code permits. Section 5.02.01(F)(6) adds that accessory structures shall not be used as a dwelling unit except as Section 5.02.02 sets out.