Rent by the Room and Occupancy Limits

[Joseph Ayoub]

Hi All - I am wondering if anyone who does rent by the room in the Atlanta metro area has advice on how to do a rent by the room rental? Specifically, how to go about managing unrelated persons living together per county or city ordinance and lease structure. 

I am considering two properties: 

1) A home DeKalb County (Decatur) that is zone R75 for single family zoning. The zoning record says it is in an unincorporated tax district. 

2) A home in Kennesaw that is also zoned for single family.

I see online that there is conflicting info, where in DeKalb county, 3 unrelated people can live together, but Decatur shows 2 unrelated people. Additionally, the house in Kennesaw is close to KSU and currently used as a student rental, but Cobb county shows 2 unrelated people who can live with each other. 

My questions are:

1) How are leases structured? Do you create a separate lease for each individual?

2) Do you need a rental license or any registration with the county/city?

3) Is rent by the room a feasible strategy with these county/city living restrictions?

Thanks for any insight!

[Rachel Davis]

At the end of the day, the law is the law. Does this particular law get enforced often? No. 

Is there a risk that it could be enforced? Yes. 

Is it a good idea to base an entire business model around something that breaks the law? No. 

There are many other cities out there who have less restrictive occupancy. I've researched this in many cities and have never even seen one as low as 2-3 unrelated individuals.