New laws regulating short-term rental services like Airbnb and VRBO in the city of Atlanta won’t go into effect as quickly as initially planned.
The Atlanta City Council passed new rules for the short-term rental industry in March, and they were set to go into effect in Sept. 1. Recently, though, the council voted to delay the implementation of the regulations by six months, until March 1, 2022.
According to the legislation, the Department of City Planning is continuing to plan for the ordinance to go into effect, “and more time is needed to complete that work.”
The new regulations allow homeowners to rent out rooms or entire houses for 30 days at most. Homeowners will have to apply for a $150 certificate to operate rentals in the city, and the rentals will be taxed at the same 8% rate as hotels. The ordinance, drafted by Councilman Andre Dickens, also requires rentals to be limited to two adults per bedroom.
Short-term rental properties will also be subject to $500 fines for loud parties or other violations.
The rules were put in place after debates swirled for months about how the city should oversee a booming industry that brought extra income to local property owners but sometimes generated complaints.
Airbnb previously removed dozens of houses from its listings because the rentals created “party house” nuisance complaints from nearby neighbors. One proposal to ban short-term rentals altogether did not gain traction in the City Council.
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