Chattanooga, TN Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Sec. 38-88(f) calculates maximum occupancy bedroom by bedroom rather than as a flat headcount. A bedroom up to 210 square feet counts for two occupants; a bedroom larger than 210 square feet is instead divided by 70 square feet to get its occupant load. Every unit then adds two more occupants on top of the per-bedroom totals, and (f)(3) requires the resulting maximum to be conspicuously posted inside the rental so guests and inspectors can check it on sight. The bedroom count that feeds this formula is itself capped: Sec.

38-88(e) allows no more than five bedrooms for rental use in any one dwelling, and on a site in the RN-1-6, RN-1-5, or RN-2 zones the limit tightens to five sleeping rooms total. Sec. 38-88(a) excludes uninhabitable space entirely, so a garage, barn, or shed can never be counted or used as a sleeping room no matter what the square footage works out to. Related minimum standards in the same section reinforce the occupancy rules: (b) requires functioning smoke detectors as determined by the Fire Marshal, (g) bars renting the unit out for anything under 24 hours regardless of how few guests are involved, and (j) requires every occupant to follow the City Code's noise and waste-management provisions under Sec.

25-69. A property that has been found in violation of any City Code provision by City Court within the six months before an application is filed cannot receive a short-term vacation rental certificate at all, per Sec. 38-88(l).