Spotsylvania County, VA Short-Term Rentals: Primary-Residence-Only Rule (2026)
Key Facts
- Use classification
- Bed and Breakfast I / II (zoning)
- Occupancy requirement
- Owner-occupied dwelling required
- Room cap, Tier I
- Up to 5 guest rooms
- Room cap, Tier II
- 6 to 20 guest rooms
- Stay limit
- 30 consecutive days maximum
- Parking
- 1 space per guest room
Summary
Spotsylvania County has no Airbnb-style short-term rental ordinance separate from its bed and breakfast use. Both tiers, Bed and Breakfast I and II, are zoned only as an owner-occupied dwelling: the operator must live on the property. Bed and Breakfast I caps guest rooms at five; Bed and Breakfast II tops out at twenty, still under owner occupancy.
Bed and breakfast I means a stand-alone owner occupied dwelling, of sufficient capacity in terms of sewage treatment and parking needs in which up to five (5) guest rooms with private or shared bathroom facilities are available as lodging for persons, either individually or as families or groups, for specific periods of time not to exceed thirty (30) days, with one or more meals offered to lodging patrons and their guests (but not the general public). ... Bed and breakfast II means a stand-alone dwelling and/or collection of other accessory buildings on the same lot that is occupied by the owner operators, of sufficient capacity in terms of sewage treatment and parking needs in which more than five (5), up to twenty (20) guests rooms total with private or shared bathroom facilities are available as lodging for persons onsite, either individually or as families or groups, for specific periods of time not to exceed thirty (30) days, with one or more meals offered to lodging patrons and their guests (but not the general public).
Full Breakdown
The zoning ordinance's only home-lodging category is the bed and breakfast use defined at Spotsylvania County Code § 23-2.1.4. Bed and Breakfast I is "a stand-alone owner occupied dwelling" with up to five guest rooms, private or shared baths, stays capped at thirty consecutive days, and meals offered only to lodging patrons and their guests, never the general public. Bed and Breakfast II raises the cap to between six and twenty guest rooms but keeps the same owner-occupancy condition, requiring the dwelling and any accessory buildings on the lot to be "occupied by the owner operators." Neither tier allows an absentee investor to run the lodging remotely.
Zoning treatment differs by district: Bed and Breakfast I is a by-right permitted use in agricultural districts such as A-2 and the Rural Preservation (Ru/PRR) classifications, while Bed and Breakfast II requires board-of-supervisors approval as a special use in those same districts, subject to the Article 4, Division 5 special-use procedure, including site plan review and the standards in § 23-4.5.7. Parking is set at one space per guest room, plus whatever the single-family detached dwelling standard requires under § 23-5.9.3.
This is distinct from the county's daily rental property tax at § 21-293, which taxes short-term rental of tangible personal property such as equipment, not home stays, and from the transient occupancy tax under Article VI of Chapter 21, which applies to hotel, motel, and campground revenue rather than zoning eligibility.
Violations & Fines
Operating a home-stay lodging use without meeting the owner-occupancy requirement, exceeding the five- or twenty-room caps, or running the use without required special use approval is a zoning violation enforced by the zoning administrator under § 23-9.1.1. After a written notice of violation, uncorrected conditions become a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $10 to $1,000 per § 23-9.1.2, with escalating fines up to $1,500 for each ten-day period the violation continues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rent my Spotsylvania County home on Airbnb without living there?
How many guest rooms can a Spotsylvania bed and breakfast have?
Does Spotsylvania County require a permit for a bed and breakfast?
Is the county's short-term rental tax the same as a bed and breakfast permit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Spotsylvania County
Compare Spotsylvania County to another location·View the Virginia short-term rentals overview
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