DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — Douglas County leaders have contracted a third party to help crack down on short-term rentals.
The Douglas County Planning and Zoning Department announced its efforts to ensure homeowners follow the area's short-term rental regulations. Leaders said it hired a vendor to help identify properties advertised on platforms as short-term rental units.
Short-term rental properties in the county are defined as houses, portions of houses or accessory buildings advertised as lodging for rent for less than 30 days. These are commonly known as VRBO rentals and Airbnbs.
“We want to protect the investment of owners that are operating a short-term rental property by requiring compliance with all required codes and regulations,” Allison Duncan, Douglas County Planning and Zoning Manager, said in a news release. “We want the traveling public to know that their lodging is safe and properly regulated. And we want to create transparency, so that the community is aware that they will have transient populations moving through their neighborhood.”
For more information on what this initiative could mean for homeowners, contact the Douglas County Planning and Zoning Department at 770-920-7241.
Douglas County's initiative comes as Airbnb announced Tuesday it is making its party ban permanent. The company had set a temporary ban on all parties and event listings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
