Columbus, GA Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)
Key Facts
- Downtown Historic District cap
- 35 permits
- Smallest cap
- Dinglewood: 2 permits
- Allocation method
- First-come, first-served
- Exemption
- Owner-occupied properties not capped
Summary
Columbus, Georgia caps non-owner-occupied short-term rentals per historic district, from 2 permits in Dinglewood to 35 downtown, allotted first-come, first-served under the UDO.
for parcels of land that are not owner-occupied, as defined in Section 4.9.2, short-term vacation rentals are limited within each Historic District as provided below: Downtown Historic District—35
Weracoba/St. Elmo Historic District—20
High Uptown Historic District—15
Liberty Heritage Historic District—7
Waverly Terrace Historic District—16
Wildwood Circle Historic District—11
Wynnton Village Historic District—27
Peacock Woods/Dimon Circle—12
Dinglewood Historic District—2
Wynn's Hill Overlook Historic District—26
B.Permits for non-owner-occupied short term vacation rentals subject to the above stated limits shall be issued on a first come first served basis with a preference being given to any owner who has a current permit from the previous year that has remained in good standing. In the event the property owner fails to timely make application for a new annual permit, then this preference is lost, and that owner must wait for the next available space. (Ord. No. 23-008, § 3, 1-31-23)
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 75).
Full Breakdown
The Unified Development Ordinance sets a hard numeric ceiling on non-owner-occupied short-term vacation rental permits inside each of Columbus's ten historic districts, ranging from 2 in the Dinglewood Historic District to 35 in the Downtown Historic District. Permits within each district's cap are issued first-come, first-served, with priority given to an owner whose permit from the prior year remained in good standing; missing the annual renewal deadline forfeits that priority and the owner must wait for an open slot. Owner-occupied properties are exempt from the numeric caps entirely.
Violations & Fines
No numeric penalty section; a non-owner-occupied STR permit application above a district's cap is simply not issued until a slot opens, and losing renewal priority forces a wait for the next vacancy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are short-term rentals capped in Columbus, GA historic districts?
How are limited historic-district STR permits awarded in Columbus?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Columbus
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