South Fulton puts limits on short-term rentals ahead of Super Bowl
Renting a house for a short time in South Fulton during the Super Bowl? You may be running afoul of a new city rule.
In December, members of the South Fulton City Council agreed to regulate short-term rentals, requiring residents who want to rent their property to pay a $200 application fee, apply for a short-term rental license and obtain an occupation tax certificate.
This applies to online home rental services, such as Airbnb and VRBO.
Regional Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said Thursday that there are a handful of hosts in South Fulton. He said the company would be willing to start a dialogue with the city to come up with best practices around the rentals.
READ | Airbnb: Atlanta's Super Bowl hosts stand to make $3.3M in all
Carmalitha Gumbs, the city councilwoman who sponsored the ordinance, said its intent was to protect homeowners by ensuring responsible renting.
“I have heard from many residents regarding the quality of life issues that negatively impact our community from illegally operated short term rentals,” Gumbs said in a statement. “It is my hope that with the new regulation, those issues will be mitigated and residents can feel safe and enjoy their community free from incidents.”
Other metro Atlanta communities, like Brookhaven, have also begun to regulate short-term rentals.
With Super Bowl fans jamming hotels this week, private home rentals have provided a place to stay for thousands of visitors.
Last week, Airbnb spokesman Chris Lehane said there were about 5,700 hosts in Atlanta as of Jan. 1, but he feels that amount has certainly increased since then.
Airbnb estimated last week that 9,200 Airbnb guests would be staying in the metro area during Super Bowl week.
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About the Authors
Arielle Kass covers Gwinnett County for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She started at the paper in 2010, and has covered business and local government beats around metro Atlanta. Arielle is a graduate of Emory University.
Ben Brasch is the reporter tasked with keeping Fulton County government accountable. The Florida native moved to Atlanta for a job with The AJC. If there's something important to you going on in Fulton, he wants to know about it. Help him better metro Atlanta by dropping a line, anonymously or otherwise.
