What’s Happening with Short Term Rentals in Athens, Georgia?
As a now former owner of a short term rental (Airbnb or STR) in Athens, Georgia, I have been keeping a close eye on the evolving policies in Athens Clarke County (ACC). Originally passed in September of 2023, the limitations are supposed to help with housing affordability (keeping homes as places for people to live daily and not just occasionally when you are visiting from out of town) and to protect neighborhoods from having a parcel of new strangers staying next door every weekend. I wrote about these restrictions as they were first being passed. You can see my initial thoughts here.
One thing I appreciate is that the rules do keep shifting to help balance the rights of personal property owners and the needs of the community as a whole. I am sure that some purchases of STRs did decrease the housing stock for normal home buyers who just wanted a place to live. However, as home prices continue to rise and interest rates are no longer ridiculously low, the numbers aren’t going to work for most investors to buy a home in Athens to just be a STR. When we had our Athens Airbnb, we had tremendous months (thank you UGA football) but we also had super slow months, particularly in the summer. If you have a large monthly mortgage, it’s going to be hard to keep up payments if you only have a few weekends a month actually rented. We ultimately sold our STR because of the stress of not knowing when it would rent plus the work of truly serving our guests. We love our Airbnb behind our house (Charming Cottage in Downtown Watkinsville) and our off grid cabin (Tiny Meadow Cabin in Stephens, GA), but are grateful we now have a traditional rental in Watkinsville instead of our STR in Athens.
So, what is happening in 2026 in Athens, Ga with STRs? If you have a primary residence (own or a long term lease), you are allowed to Airbnb your property if you also live there full time. How do you Airbnb while living there full time? The easiest is to only rent it for specific times, most likely football season and things like graduation. In Athens, people can rent their home for 1000’s of dollars for a football weekend. We actually help people get those set up if you are curious if that might work for you, visit our Consultation page for more info. The other option is to permanently Airbnb a portion of your property like a basement or an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit). If you do have an ADU then technically you are not allowed to also rent out your primary home even occasionally as well but I’m not sure how strictly that is enforced. In order to be able to do this, you must complete these forms on the ACC website, need to have a business occupation tax certificate, and collect the 7% hotel tax (which platforms like Airbnb will do for you).
The other option is to have a commercial STR in designated areas. As of January of 2026, it looks like STRs might be allowed in areas already zoned for multifamily living (condos and apartments). To get a commercial license you have more hoops to jump through but it is an option. You will need to contact the Athens Clarke County Planning Department to find out what you need to do. Searching through their website, it seems that calling (706) 613-3515 is your best bet. Every time I have called I have been pleasantly pleased with how helpful they are. Another recent change - they are discussing not sunsetting the current Airbnbs in Athens (you have to already be on their official list) but actually allowing them to continue operating with certain stipulations in place to ensure neighbors aren’t adversely affected.
Overall, I think STRs need to be in communities, especially communities like Athens that have surges of visitors at inconsistent times like UGA football games. It also makes sense to have some common sense rules to protect the people living near STRs. Athens Clarke County does seem to be moving in the right direction with their modified ordinances. If you want to dig deeper, here’s the official Athens Clarke County webpage with more informtion.