Savannah, GA short-term rental certificate

What Savannah asks of you

• Renting a dwelling unit for 30 days or less takes a business tax certificate from the city's revenue director first.^[5]

• Savannah's zoning code ties the use itself to a short-term vacation rental certificate.^[7]

• You apply every year to the tourism management and ambassadorship director, under oath.^[5]

• The 2026 Revenue Ordinance puts the application fee at $400, with no refund. Each annual renewal costs $250.^[9]

• Your file includes a sworn code compliance form. It also needs proof of insurance naming the home as a short-term vacation rental.^[5]

• For a condominium, attach the declaration. It must allow leases under 30 days or contain no ban on them.^[5]

• Before the first certificate issues, you notify every adjacent owner of record and send the city proof.^[5]

• In the Savannah Historic District, rentals on parcels the owner does not occupy are capped at 20% of a ward's residential parcels.^[6]

• The Victorian District applies the same 20% ward cap.^[6]

• Certificates held or applied for before September 28, 2017 can still be renewed in a ward above the cap.^[5]

• A buyer of such a parcel keeps that protection by applying within six months of the title transfer.^[5]

• Owner-occupied means the principal unit is the owner's primary and usual residence. A valid homestead exemption is the proof the city asks for.^[5]

• Section 7.5.6 limits the use in the TN-2 district to parcels with at least two units, one of them owner-occupied.^[6]

• Section 8.4.37 describes TN-2 differently: one dwelling per parcel, allowed only when the owner occupies the principal unit.^[7]

• Units with one or two bedrooms take four adults at most. From three bedrooms up, the ceiling is two adults per bedroom.^[7]

• For the Streetcar Historic District, Section 7.5.6 also allows two adults per bedroom plus two per dwelling. Its next sentence restates the four-adult limit for small units.^[6]

• Nothing on the outside of the home may change or show that it is rented to guests.^[7]

• Your agent must be at the property within two hours when the city reports noise, disorder or overcrowding.^[5]

• Each print or online advertisement carries the certificate number. So does every listing, along with the sample rental agreement.^[5]

• Inside the unit, a posted copy of the certificate gives the agent's contact details and the occupancy limit. It also states how many vehicles may park.^[5]

• Three code violations at one property in 12 months end any pending certificate there. New applications for that address are refused for a year.^[5]

• A first violation of the chapter costs $500. A second within 12 months costs $750. A third brings $1,000, and the code bars waiving any of these fines.^[5]

• Certificates are personal to the holder and the address. They cannot be assigned to anyone else.^[5]

What Georgia asks wherever you host

These rules apply at this address whatever the city decides.

• On stays booked through a platform acting as marketplace innkeeper, the platform collects Georgia's $5 State Hotel-Motel Fee for you. The charge applies to each night up to the 30th of a continuous stay.^[1]

• Your city or county picks the rate of its hotel-motel tax. An ordinance alone can set 1 to 3% or 5%, while 6 to 8% takes a local act of the General Assembly.^[2]

• Since July 1, 2026, a paid property manager who runs your rental through a hosting platform must complete yearly anti-trafficking training. Self-managed rentals are exempt, as are those offered under 15 days a year.^[3]