North Beach Property Management

This is the single most important thing to establish before buying on Tybee, and the answer is often no. Since October 2022 the city has issued no new short-term rental certificates in the R-1, R-1-B and R-2 residential districts, which cover the large majority of the island. That freeze was challenged in court and upheld: a property owners' group argued short-term rentals should be treated as ordinary residential rentals under state law, and Chatham County Superior Court dismissed the case on 6 August 2026, holding that because short-term rentals lack a relatively continuous physical presence the city may regulate them more strictly. So the freeze is settled law rather than untested policy. In practice, a residentially zoned Tybee property either carries a certificate already or it cannot get one — which makes the existing certificate part of what you are buying. Verify it exists and is current before you commit, not after.

Certificates run the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, and renew annually. Occupancy is two adults per bedroom plus two additional adults for the dwelling. The fee is a $200 base regulatory charge per applicant plus a further occupancy-based amount scaled to the unit. A 7 percent local Occupational Room Tax is remitted monthly, due by the 20th of the following month. Vehicles may not exceed the property's permitted parking capacity, must display a parking pass and must sit in the driveway or designated area rather than on the street — on an island this constrained, parking is a genuine enforcement issue rather than a formality. These are the rules as they stand today; a significant amendment takes effect on 1 January 2027 and is described below.

Yes, and it is worth planning around now. In August 2026 the council passed an amendment, reported as a 4-1 vote, that replaces the blanket residential freeze with a sector system from 1 January 2027. The island is divided into four sectors: the eastern and southern sectors covering the beach and commercial district may have up to 60 percent of homes operating as short-term rentals, while the western and northern residential sectors are capped at 30 percent, explicitly to protect neighbourhood character. The amendment also adds an emergency contact requirement with a fine for failing to designate one. We have not been able to confirm the final ordinance number or whether every element of the proposal survived into the adopted text, and the city has said it will run public workshops before the effective date. Treat the numbers as the shape of what is coming and confirm the detail closer to the time — we will be doing exactly that for the properties we manage.

People choosing quiet deliberately. Families with small children who do not want the pier crowd, couples on a slower weekend, and visitors here for the lighthouse or the Marine Science Center rather than the bars. The housing helps: North Beach is historic cottages and converted Fort Screven-era buildings, generally smaller and older than the newer construction at the south end, and that character is the product. A listing that leads on the history and the calm converts better here than one that leads on proximity to the pier.