Floyd County, GA Accessory Structures: ADU Rules (2026)

The Unified Land Development Code (Appendix B) was readopted in its entirety by the Board of Commissioners on January 26, 2021, and it governs guesthouses the same way in unincorporated Floyd County and inside Rome, since both governments adopted the identical text. A guesthouse only qualifies as an accessory use where a single-family detached dwelling already stands on the lot, so a vacant parcel cannot start with a guesthouse and add the main house later. The lot must carry at least 20,000 square feet before a guesthouse can go in, well above the minimum lot size in the county's tighter residential districts, so the rule effectively confines guesthouses to larger agricultural-residential and suburban-residential parcels.

Placement is fixed: the structure has to sit at least 20 feet behind the primary residence, and its floor area cannot exceed half the main house's floor area, which keeps the guesthouse subordinate in scale. Construction has to meet or exceed the code's Class A single-family dwelling standards, the same structural bar as a standalone home, and only one guesthouse is permitted per lot no matter how large the parcel. 2(c) of the same article adds a further limit that reaches every accessory building on a residential lot, including a guesthouse: it may not be rented or occupied for gain, so the structure has to stay a true accessory use rather than a rental unit or second household generating separate income.

The Rome-Floyd County Planning Department and Building Inspection Division, the joint agency that reviews zoning compliance for both governments, handles the building permit and site plan review a guesthouse needs before construction begins.