I’ve been wondering how everyone out there has been doing business with Airbnb in Atlanta. I wanted to put my house on Airbnb but reading the city of Atlanta website apparently it is illegal? What is the work around? Many thanks!
Why look for a way around it? @ana
From a quick glance at the information on Airbnb it seems that you can do STRs if you apply for a licence and pay the appropriate tax.
This question has arisen from Airbnb owners in several other USA cities. I have replied each time with the following suggestion:
Telephone your city or county’s Planning Commission Office and ask what are the current short-term rental laws. Ask the local government office to e-mail you that rental regulation section.
I don’t think that Airbnb is illegal anywhere but anyone running an STR will need to comply with local legislation and restrictions. To find out what they are in your area, call your local authorities.
In addition some homeowners’ associations, condo boards and so on have their own regulations that you’ll need to abide by.
Although STR is a fun thing to do, it’s not worth getting evicted/fined for.
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There are definitely cities that do not allow Short-Term rentals (any rental under 30 days). Paso Robles, CA, Temecula, CA (although currently under review), and Astoria, OR are three cities that I happen to know about in the US. Other cities might have different regulations around what you can/can’t do, what % you can rent out, how many people you can host, etc.
OP, for what it’s worth, it looks like Atlanta may be looking to ban or change regulations soon: https://www.cbs46.com/news/house-bill-looks-to-ban-local-laws-on-short-term/article_34898e30-3b85-11e9-a243-b7719b91cecd.html
Edit to add: some cities ban them but don’t have any way of enforcing it. Temecula currently doesn’t allow them, but doesn’t have a way to enforce or penalize people for doing it. It’s a risk we all take though - any city at any time (relatively) could decide against STRs.