Cherokee County, GA Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Sec. 18-383(e)(1), within the short-term rental safety package, requires an operational smoke detector in every bedroom, immediately outside each bedroom, and on every story of the residential dwelling unit used as a short-term rental, with placement and mounting following the applicable adopted residential building code and the detector kept in good working order at all times. The same subsection pairs the smoke detector duty with a carbon monoxide detector outside rented bedrooms, an operable emergency escape window or door in every bedroom, a charged five-pound ABC fire extinguisher meeting NFPA standards on each floor, a visible house number, upkeep consistent with the county's Property Maintenance Code and Zoning Ordinance, an adequate sewer or septic system, and compliance with the pool and spa code where applicable.

The Cherokee County Development Services Center reviews these safety items when issuing or renewing the annual short-term rental certificate, and the director, county marshal's office, sheriff's office, fire department and board of health share authority to investigate a property for compliance under Sec. 18-387 once a complaint or code-violation report comes in. The safety requirements are written into the short-term rental division specifically, so this smoke alarm duty is tied to certificated short-term rental units in the unincorporated county rather than functioning as a freestanding smoke-alarm mandate for every dwelling; the general code text reviewed did not surface a separate residential smoke-detector chapter reaching owner-occupied or ordinary long-term rental housing.