Cobb County GA basement rental

[Bobby Valcin]

I have recently been looking into properties in Marietta, GA. My family and I are considering relocating to that area. If we do end up going that route, I was thinking it might be a good idea to rent out the basement and live in the main house (house hack).

I did some Google searching to see what a basement might rent for in that area, however, I was having a hard time finding any listed anywhere. I found this odd, so I decided to call Cobb County and they advised that a basement can only be rented by one adult with some kind of square footage per person limitation, and I could not wall off the basement door. The tenant would have to have “access” to the upstairs area. I’m not sure it that means that I can’t restrict their access to upstairs or that I just had to have a door there.

When I asked the rep why there weren't any basements for rent on the MLS he couldn't really give me an answer.

This was a bit of a let down hearing all of this, since there don’t seem to be many duplexes or front houses with in-law suites that would serve the same purpose.

Is there something I’m missing? Has anyone ever dealt with basement rentals in that area?