Before you buy here with rental income in the plan, establish one thing: whether the address sits inside the City of Savannah or in unincorporated Chatham County. They run separate certificate systems with separate fees, renewal cycles and rules, and the county just changed its own.
Key Takeaways
– A new city certificate is $400 and renews at $250.
– Savannah caps non-owner-occupied parcels at 20 percent per ward in two historic districts.
– The county commission approved changes to its rental ordinance on 25 September 2026 and has not published the adopted text, so every county figure in this article is the pre-amendment position.
– On that pre-amendment basis the county charged $350, renewing only between 1 May and 30 June with a $175 late fee.
Which rulebook applies to the address?
Whichever government the parcel sits in, and that is a question to settle before anything else. A property inside the Savannah city limits goes through the city’s short-term vacation rental process. A property in unincorporated Chatham County goes through the county’s. The two are not variations of one scheme, they are different schemes with different paperwork.
Do not infer it from a mailing address. Plenty read “Savannah, GA” while sitting in unincorporated county. Confirm the jurisdiction for the parcel before you price rental income into an offer.
What does the City of Savannah require?
A certificate, a business tax certificate, and in some districts a slot that may not exist.
The money is straightforward: “New STVR application fee $400.00” and “Annual renewal application fee $250.00” (City of Savannah).
The sequence is less obvious and catches people. “Once an STVR application has been approved, a Business Tax Certificate (“BTC”) must be obtained through the Revenue Department, and a copy of the BTC must be forwarded to the Planning and Urban Design office prior to the issuance of the STVR Certificate.” Approval of the application is not the certificate. There is a second step, in a different department, before you can operate.
The cap is the part that decides deals
In two districts, the city limits how many non-owner-occupied rentals a ward can hold: “a 20% per-ward cap is applicable to non-owner occupied parcels in the Savannah Downtown Historic District” and “the Victorian Historic District” (City of Savannah).
If you are buying in either district as an investor rather than as a resident, that cap governs whether your plan is possible at all. It is a per-ward figure, so the answer differs street to street. Ask the city where the specific ward stands before you go under contract, because a property that cannot get a certificate is a different asset from one that can.
Owner-occupied is defined, not assumed. The city says “Owner-occupied property refers to real property which contains one or more dwelling unit(s) where the principal dwelling unit must be occupied by the property owner.” That is a genuine occupancy requirement, not a box to tick.
The Streetcar District adds its own structure: “all STVRs on parcels zoned TN-2 must have two or more dwelling units, one of which must be owner-occupied.” A single-family house on TN-2 does not fit that rule.
What does unincorporated Chatham County require?
Its own certificate, and a longer document list. The county states that “Before anyone can offer Short Term rentals to the public in Chatham County, they must obtain a Short-Term Vacation Rental Certificate and complete an Occupation Registration,” with an “Application Fee Per Establishment, $350.00” (Chatham County Department of Building Safety and Regulatory Services).
The renewal window is the detail most likely to cost someone a season: “Short Term Rental Certificates are valid for one year and can be renewed between May 1 and June 30. The renewal fee is $350, and late renewals will be subject to a $175 late fee” (Chatham County). A two-month window once a year is easy to miss if you bought in October.
The renewal checklist is long and specific. It requires the application, a “Completed Life Safety Compliance Verification Form,” a “Completed Regulation Form,” a “Completed HOA Affidavit,” photo identification for every applicant and agent, proof of homeowner’s insurance “indicating the property is used as a short-term rental,” a current ad valorem tax receipt, “Proof of trash pick-up service (current invoice),” “Proof of fire service (current invoice),” and “Proof of advertisement with a marketplace innkeeper for collection of Hotel Motel Tax.”
A first application asks for more again, including a “Notarized Affidavit Verifying Status for County Public Benefit Application,” a “Notarized Private Employer Affidavit (E-Verify),” proof of ownership and a “Diagram of parking.” The county is explicit about what happens if anything is missing: “Application will not be accepted without all the above documents.”
Two of those are worth noting at the offer stage rather than the application stage. Homeowner’s insurance has to name the property as a short-term rental, a different policy from a standard owner’s policy. And the HOA affidavit exists because a certificate does not override a covenant, so a neighborhood’s own documents can stop a rental the county would otherwise license.
The county rules just changed
This is the most important thing on this page if you are looking at an unincorporated address. The county had announced that its commissioners “will vote on the proposed changes at their regular meeting on Friday, September 25 at 9:30 A.M.,” including “a public hearing” (Chatham County press release, 21 September 2026).
They did. “The Chatham County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved changes to the county’s short-term vacation rental ordinance Friday morning,” and the new ordinance “empowers homeowners associations to enforce their neighborhood regulations with the full backing of county code enforcement” (WTOC, 25 September 2026).
That matters if you are buying somewhere with covenants: it puts county enforcement behind rules an association previously enforced alone.
What is not yet available is the adopted text. At the time of writing the county has not published the amended ordinance, a release describing its terms, or an effective date, and its agendas and minutes have moved to a separate portal. So treat every county fee, window and checklist above as the pre-amendment published position, and assume some of it has changed. If your purchase depends on operating a short-term rental in unincorporated Chatham County, get the county’s written confirmation of the current requirements for your specific address before your due diligence period ends.
What not to assume
Four things buyers commonly get wrong here.
That a working rental conveys with the house. It does not follow automatically in either jurisdiction, and in the city a cap may block a new certificate even where one existed before.
That the mailing address tells you the jurisdiction. It does not.
That an approval is a certificate. In the city it is not, because the business tax certificate sits between them.
That the county rules you read today are the rules you will operate under. They were amended on 25 September 2026 and the adopted text is not yet published.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Savannah short-term rental certificate cost?
The city charges $400.00 for a new short-term vacation rental application and $250.00 for the annual renewal. After approval you must also obtain a Business Tax Certificate from the Revenue Department and send a copy to Planning and Urban Design before the STVR certificate is issued.
Is there a limit on short-term rentals in Savannah?
Yes, in two districts. A 20 percent per-ward cap applies to non-owner-occupied parcels in the Savannah Downtown Historic District and the Victorian Historic District. Because it is calculated per ward, the answer varies by location, so ask the city where a specific ward stands before going under contract.
What does Chatham County charge and when do you renew?
On the county’s pre-amendment published figures, the application fee was $350.00 per establishment, certificates ran one year and renewed only between 1 May and 30 June, at $350, with a $175 late fee after that. Commissioners amended the ordinance on 25 September 2026 and the adopted text is not yet published, so confirm all of this in writing before relying on it.
Are the Chatham County rules changing?
They changed. The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved amendments on 25 September 2026, and the new ordinance backs homeowners association rules with county code enforcement. The county has not yet published the adopted text or an effective date, so confirm the current requirements in writing for your address before relying on any figure.
Before you write the offer
The order that avoids trouble is simple. Establish the jurisdiction. If it is the city, and the property sits in the Downtown or Victorian historic district and you will not live there, check the ward cap first, because nothing else matters without a slot. If it is the county, get the current rules in writing and read the HOA documents closely, because the new ordinance puts county enforcement behind them.
For the areas we cover on this side of the county, see the Savannah and Hunter Army Airfield community page, Berwick and Georgetown.
To have the jurisdiction, the ward position and the current rules checked for a specific Savannah or Chatham County address, get in touch.