10 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Forsyth County, North Carolina.
Verified from official government sources
North Carolina has no statewide short-term-rental licensing preemption, and neither Forsyth County nor Winston-Salem issues a dedicated STR permit. A whole-house rental is treated as a residential use. A Bed and Breakfast, however, needs a Special Use Permit from the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County UDO, RS9 Use Table
Uses Allowed With Special Use Permit From Zoning Board of Adjustment (A): Bed and Breakfast.
Short-term-rental guests must obey the same Winston-Salem/Forsyth County noise ordinance that applies to every resident. There is no separate STR noise code, but a rental generating repeated disturbances can trigger citations and, for a permitted B&B, permit consequences.
Short-term rentals in Forsyth County owe a room-occupancy and tourism-development tax of up to 6% on top of the combined 7.0% state and county sales tax. Occupancy tax applies to accommodations rented for fewer than 90 continuous days.
No short-term-rental-specific parking ordinance exists in Forsyth County or Winston-Salem. A dwelling used as an STR follows the same residential parking and driveway standards in the UDO; a permitted Bed and Breakfast must meet off-street parking conditions set through its Special Use Permit.
Neither the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County UDO nor a county STR ordinance sets a guest-count cap for short-term rentals. Occupancy is limited only by the North Carolina building and housing code's minimum floor-area-per-occupant standards and by septic/well capacity in rural areas.
No Forsyth County or Winston-Salem ordinance requires short-term-rental operators to carry a specific insurance policy or minimum liability coverage. Insurance is governed by your policy and platform terms, not by a local mandate. A permitted Bed and Breakfast may face insurance conditions through its Special Use Permit.
Forsyth County and Winston-Salem set no annual limit on the number of nights a property may be rented short-term. There is no cap because no dedicated STR ordinance exists. The only night-based line is the 90-day threshold that separates taxable short stays from long-term rentals.
There is no zoning registry for short-term rentals in Winston-Salem or unincorporated Forsyth County. The only mandatory registration is with Forsyth County Tax Administration so you can collect and remit the county room-occupancy tax, plus a state sales-tax account with NCDOR.
No host-presence rule applies to whole-house short-term rentals in Forsyth County or Winston-Salem. The owner need not stay on site. Only a Bed and Breakfast, a distinct permitted use, typically involves an on-premises operator under its Special Use Permit.
No. Forsyth County and Winston-Salem impose no primary-residence requirement for short-term rentals. Non-owner-occupied and investment properties may be rented short-term as a residential use, subject only to the applicable zoning district and the county occupancy tax.
1 cities in Forsyth County have their own short-term rentals rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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