A cabin outside Blairsville can come with five years of booking history, a full calendar and a guest book covered in five-star notes. Under Union County's rules, the short-term rental license is not part of that package. The license belongs to the seller. When you close, what you get is a deadline. The county ordinance gives the buyer of a property with an existing license "first right of refusal" to get a license for that property, as long as the buyer meets every requirement. It also says that "the new property owner shall have 15 days after closing to apply for an STR license."
That window is the most valuable thing a licensed cabin offers a buyer, and the listing doesn't mention it. A licensed cabin and an unlicensed one can look the same in photos. One of them has a protected place in line that lasts about two weeks, in a county that limits how many licenses can exist.
The clause that reads like a contradiction
Union County's short-term rental ordinance dates to March 9, 2023, and the county's FAQ lists the program as effective April 8, 2023. The same section that gives buyers their priority also says:
"An STR license shall be for a specific property held by the owner of that property who is required to be the applicant and license holder. An owner of a property holding a STR license may not transfer that license to a different property owned by the same owner. Any time a new owner of a property or a new property seeks consideration for a STR license a new application must be made."
The county's STR FAQ puts it more simply: "A Union County STR License is not transferable." It repeats the 15-day application period after closing.
Taken together, the two passages explain how it works. The license doesn't move from seller to buyer. Every buyer starts with a new application. The ordinance gives a buyer of a licensed property priority for that specific address, and the priority depends on two things: applying within 15 days of closing and meeting every requirement of the ordinance. When a seller says a cabin is "licensed," that describes the seller's status today. It says nothing about the buyer's status on the day after closing.
Why a place in line matters in a capped county
The 15-day window has value because the county limits the total supply. The ordinance caps STR licenses at "no more than 5 percent of total number of housing units as reported by the county tax assessor's office annually." At its April 13, 2026 meeting, the county's STR Board reported that the Tax Assessor counted 16,034 residential buildings as of February 23, 2026. Five percent of that is 802, which raised the cap by 42 licenses.
So the cap goes up only when the assessor's count of housing goes up. The ordinance also works the other way. If the number of housing units falls below a previous level, existing licenses keep renewing, but "new licenses will not be issued."
Applying is not the same as being approved. The ordinance says an online application "does not guarantee a license, but it does place the property in queue for consideration," and that licenses "are officially approved at scheduled county government commission meetings." The county has not published a recent count of active licenses compared with the 802 cap. The April 2026 STR Board minutes give the cap but not the number in use. The June 8, 2026 minutes report only that the county had added five STR properties since the previous meeting. New licenses are still coming before the commission. Its September 22, 2026 agenda lists three new licensees for August 15 through September 20, 2026.
The county's records describe a fixed ceiling and a queue. The ceiling only rises with new housing, and new licenses come before the commission a few at a time. In that system, a buyer's place in line for a specific address has real value, and the ordinance gives that place a 15-day limit.
The septic permit sets the guest count
The second thing the listing won't show is where the occupancy number comes from. For a cabin on septic, which describes a lot of rental property in the county's mountain coves, the ordinance bases occupancy "on the number of bedrooms permitted by the on-site permit as approved by county environment health." It does not use the bedroom count in the marketing description. If there is no septic permit on file, the owner has to submit an existing on-site sewage evaluation from county environmental health.
The ordinance then sets these limits:
- Overnight guests can't exceed two per permitted bedroom, plus two more for the house.
- No property can go over 15 overnight guests, whatever its size.
- Daytime occupancy can be up to twice the overnight number.
Here's a hypothetical to show the effect. A cabin listed as four bedrooms, with a septic permit written for three, would work out to eight overnight guests under the ordinance. If the permit covered all four bedrooms, the limit would be ten. That two-guest gap shows up in every booking, and the only place to see it is in the county environmental health file. The application also asks for a copy of the septic permit or a septic evaluation, so that document goes to the county with the buyer's application.
Infants count too. At the April 2026 meeting, the STR Board talked about the fact that the state, Union County Environmental Health and the county's STR ordinance all count an infant as a person. The board decided to "leave the ordinance the way it is written for the time being."
What the 15 days have to cover
Since a priority claim depends on compliance, the two weeks after closing matter most when the paperwork is already together. The ordinance and the county's published schedules list these pieces:
| Item | What the county requires |
|---|---|
| Application | Filed on the county's online STR tax collection system by the owner, who must be the license holder |
| Fee | $150 initial license, $150 annual renewal |
| Good Neighbor Notification | Owner attests it went to properties within 100 feet of the STR boundary |
| Septic documentation | Permit copy or county environmental health evaluation |
| Inspection | The code enforcement officer may schedule one; the first inspection and one follow-up are free, and each later follow-up costs $75 |
| Advertising | License number and permitted occupancy have to appear in every listing and ad |
The calendar matters as well. Every license expires on July 31, renewals paid after August 31 carry a $75 penalty, and running for more than 60 days without renewing can lead to termination and non-renewal. The ordinance also connects legal renting to approval: "Official renting may commence upon county approval of an STR license." If a seller's calendar has guests booked for the weeks after closing, ask early how those reservations fit with the time between the buyer's application and a commission vote.
Taxes the guest pays and the owner reports
A Union County rental also comes with a monthly reporting obligation. Under the county's local and state tax sheet, an operator in unincorporated Union County collects a 5% county hotel-motel excise tax and a separate 7% sales and use tax. Georgia's $5-per-night hotel-motel fee applies until a stay reaches 31 or more consecutive days. When a booking platform handles the reservation, the county says the platform remits those taxes and the fee, but the owner still files a monthly county STR tax return. For bookings made directly with the owner, the owner remits them. I'm describing how the county's system works, not giving tax advice. A buyer's own accountant is the right person for that.
Where the county license stops
A county license does not settle three separate issues.
HOA covenants. At the April 2026 STR Board meeting, county staff said that granting an STR license "does not give us authority to override any outside, private agreement between an STR Owner and HOA." A cabin can have a county license and still sit under covenants that limit rentals, so the subdivision's documents need a separate read.
City limits. The ordinance applies only to unincorporated Union County. Property inside the City of Blairsville falls under the city, and I haven't confirmed a separate city STR permit, so check that with the city directly.
Multi-unit properties. A property with two or more accommodations on one parcel goes through a different process. It needs a tourist accommodation permit from county environmental health under Georgia Department of Public Health rules. It doesn't need a county STR license, but it still registers with the county's online tax system.
The rules are also still changing. In 2026 the STR Board has discussed requiring at least two unexpired fire extinguishers per level, smoke alarms in every sleeping room and on each level, a working carbon monoxide detector on each level, and propane information posted in each home. The board's minutes show these as proposals under review, not adopted changes. A cabin that meets every rule at closing could still need equipment upgrades if the revisions pass.
Quick answers
If the seller has a license, can I keep renting under it after closing? The ordinance says a new owner must file a new application and the license is not transferable. A compliant buyer of a licensed property has first right of refusal to get a license for that property by applying within 15 days after closing.
Is the 802-license cap full? The county hasn't published a current active count. The commission's September 22, 2026 agenda listed three new licensees for August 15 through September 20, 2026.
Does the listing's bedroom count set my guest limit? On septic, the bedroom count on the county environmental health permit sets it, with a maximum of 15 overnight guests.
If you're looking at a rental cabin around Blairsville, I can help pull the septic permit, check the current license status and plan your closing so the 15-day application window is covered from the start. Schedule a free consultation with Melissa Jenkins Stillwell and we'll go through the county file before you write an offer.
