Franklin County, NC Short-Term Rentals: Host Presence Rule (2026)

Franklin County's Unified Development Code defines a Bed and Breakfast, at section 5.3.6.B, as a house or portion of a house offering short-term lodging rooms and breakfast to overnight guests, and one requirement built into that definition is that the operator lives on the premises or in adjacent premises, including boarding home(s) or tourist home(s). The same section restates the rule as a numbered use standard: the owner or manager must live on site, in addition to capping the establishment at no more than five guest rooms, requiring compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood, mandating off-street parking at a ratio of one space per guest room plus one for the owner or manager, requiring compliance with applicable local and state health and building codes, and setting a minimum lot size equal to the AR district's nonresidential minimum or one acre, whichever is larger.

UDC section 5.3.6.J further classifies short-term rentals as either a bed-and-breakfast, up to five rooms or a whole-house rental, or a hotel/motel, more than five rooms in a single structure regardless of how they are booked; the host-presence rule applies to the bed-and-breakfast category. A property operating as a bed-and-breakfast without a resident operator, or exceeding five guest rooms, is a zoning violation enforced by the Administrator under UDC sections 3.3.1-3.3.6, which can lead to permit denial or revocation under sections 3.4.2.A-B, a civil penalty up to $500.00 under section 3.4.2.C, or a Class 3 misdemeanor under section 3.4.2.D.