James City County, VA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

James City County has no separate short-term-rental ordinance; it regulates overnight paid lodging in a private home through the tourist home definition in the Zoning Ordinance. Sec. 24-2 defines a tourist home as a dwelling where lodging or lodging and meals are provided for compensation for up to five rooms which are open to transients, so a homeowner cannot rent more than five rooms to paying overnight guests under this use category; a larger operation falls outside the tourist-home definition and into the hotel or resort-hotel categories, which carry their own zoning requirements and performance standards under Sec.

24-45. The five-room cap applies regardless of how the rooms are marketed, whether through a booking platform, a sign, or word of mouth, because the definition turns on the number of rooms open to transients, not on the advertising method. Zoning district use tables list Tourist home as permitted by right in some commercial and mixed-use districts but require a special use permit from the Board of Supervisors in most business districts, meaning a property owner must confirm the district classification before assuming the five-room limit alone is enough to operate.

Community Development's zoning administrator reviews tourist-home uses for compliance with the district's requirements, and the off-street parking requirements of Sec. 24-54 apply as they would to any nonresidential use sharing the site.