Athens-Clarke County requires every short-term rental to be approved as either a Home Occupation STR (owner-occupant or long-term tenant, one structure per parcel) or a Commercial STR (Special Use Permit and plans review) under the Title 9 amendments adopted Feb 6, 2024. Operators must also obtain a Business Occupation Tax Certificate from Finance and collect the 7% local hotel-motel excise tax remitted by the 20th of each month.
On February 6, 2024 the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission adopted Title 9 (Zoning Development Standards) text amendments establishing short-term rentals — residential units rented for any period less than 31 consecutive days — as a regulated land use. Two STR categories exist. (1) Home Occupation STRs are reviewed and issued by Planning Department staff (706-613-3515). The applicant must be the owner-occupant of the property or a long-term tenant, must provide two forms of government-issued identification (passport, driver's license, voter registration, or other Federal/State/Local document) to establish primary residency, and must submit a notarized affidavit. Only one STR structure is permitted per parcel. (2) Commercial STRs are processed through the construction plans-review track, do not carry an owner-occupancy requirement, may include multiple structures, and require Special Use Permit approval prior to plans-review submittal in zones where they are conditionally permitted. Separately, every operator must hold a Business Occupation Tax Certificate issued by the Finance Department under Athens-Clarke Code Chapter 2-3 and must collect and remit the 7% local hotel-motel excise tax. When a guest books through a marketplace platform such as Airbnb or Vrbo, the platform is statutorily responsible for collecting and paying the 7% tax; direct bookings remain the operator's responsibility. Tax payments are due by the 20th day of each month for the prior monthly period and are filed online or by manual form through the Finance webpage's Pay Local Excise Taxes portal. Georgia has no statewide STR preemption (HB 555, the Residential Property Protection Act, addresses institutional investors, not STR licensing), so the local Title 9 framework controls.
Operating an STR without the required Home Occupation or Commercial approval is a Title 9 land-use violation enforceable through Athens-Clarke County code court. Operating without a Business Occupation Tax Certificate, or failing to remit the 7% hotel-motel excise tax by the 20th of each month, exposes the operator to back-tax assessment, penalties, and interest by the Finance Department. Misrepresentation on the residency affidavit can result in revocation of the STR approval.
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