Franklin STR Rules: City STVR vs Unincorporated Leiper's Fork

Jacob Mishalanie
Aug 16
13 min read

Updated: 16 hours ago

Fourth Avenue and Main Street in historic downtown Franklin, Tennessee

Nashville's short-term rental rules do not travel south with I-65. Metro Davidson County's owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied permit types, and the 2022 residential-zone investor freeze that closed a slice of that map, stop at the county line. Williamson County is a different clerk. The City of Franklin is a third desk. Unincorporated Leiper's Fork is not the city. If you researched Nashville first, unlearn that stack before you treat a Cotton Lane barn or a Main Street cottage as a Nashville APN with a prettier porch.

This is not a permission slip. The City of Franklin has a Short Term Vacation Rentals page at franklintn.gov/business/short-term-vacation-rentals. The public snippet on that page defines STVRs as residential dwelling units rented in their entirety for time periods less than 21 days. Electronic applications have been required since November 7, 2022. AirROI's Franklin, Tennessee file still prints “regulation = Low.” That badge is wrong for an incorporated parcel. Do not paste it into a feasibility memo.

This pass could not open the city's PDFs from this environment — franklintn.gov returned Akamai 403 — so every fee dollar stays hedged until you open the live FAQ and Title 13 yourself. Secondary guides that did open those PDFs name a $60 application, a 365-day refresh under section 13-214, and a four-bedroom cap. Those sentences are labeled secondary here. Themarket reportis the 410-listing file. This page is the three-clerk map.

City of Franklin is a desk. Open the live page. The City of Franklin is a third desk. The City of Franklin has a Short Term Vacation Rentals page at franklintn.gov/business/short-term-vacation-rentals. This pass could not open the city's PDFs from this environment — franklintn.gov returned Akamai 403 — so every fee dollar stays hedged until you open the live FAQ and Title 13 yourself.

The official start is franklintn.gov/business/short-term-vacation-rentals. The city tells you STVRs are entire dwellings rented for less than 21 days and that paper applications ended November 7, 2022. A how-to document for the electronic portal lives on that same page. Secondary walkthroughs disagree on the portal hostname — geocivix in one guide, idtplans in another. This report will not invent an URL. Follow the official page to the current form. Application type “13f) Short Term Vacation Rentals (STVR)” is what those secondaries say you pick. Confirm on the live wizard.

Building and Neighborhood Services is the department those same guides name as the administrator. Title 13, Chapter 2 of the Franklin Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance 2015-06, is the chapter they cite for the definition, the 24-hour floor, and the 21-day ceiling. The city's own PDF of that chapter is linked from the STVR page as showpublisheddocument/34844. Open it. Do not underwrite a five-bedroom house as an STVR because a blog said four bedrooms last year. Do not underwrite a 28-night stay as an STVR if Title 13 still excludes more than 21 continuous days. A stay that long may still be a rental. It may not be this permit.

Theremotepost is what a 28-night desk stay becomes if the city still treats anything over 21 continuous days as outside the STVR chapter. AirROI already shows 27.6 percent of the Franklin file on a 30-night-or-longer minimum. That slice is a product. It is not automatically this permit. Ask the city how a 28-night booking is classified before you advertise a month and collect an STVR certificate you do not have.

The city's STVR checklist PDF, named in secondaries as showpublisheddocument/36792, is where those guides found “rented in its entirety,” a guest 21 or older, no individual-room rentals, and the owner not staying in the home during the rental. Those are checklist sentences, not this draft's locks. Print the checklist the week you apply. Thestartuppost is the cash stack once the live Appendix A fee is in your hand.

Grandfathering is a statute citation, not a promise your parcel is in

The Franklin Zoning Ordinance flipping book, marked effective January 13, 2026, has a short-term vacation rental nonconformity section at 2.2.4. The text we did open says use regulations in that ordinance do not apply to property that was legally established and issued a permit as a short-term vacation rental, as defined by T.C.A. § 13-7-602, prior to the ordinance's effective date, until grandfathering ends. It then cites T.C.A. § 13-7-603: legally established, permitted STVRs stay under the law in place at the time of that use until the property is sold, transferred, ceases being used as an STVR for 30 continuous months, or has been in violation of generally applicable local laws three or more separate times as provided by T.C.A. § 13-7-604. Family-member transfers — blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption — keep the grandfathering.

That is zoning nonconformity language. It is not a letter that your address is eligible. It is not a current permit count. NewsChannel 5 on February 17, 2020 reported later rules that included one short-term rental per lot. Confirm whether that limit is still in the live code before you treat a second cottage on the same lot as a second product. Theinvestmentpost is what a buyer does with a grandfathered permit versus a new application. This page will not invent that your closing date resets or does not reset the clock. Open 2.2.4 and Title 13 with the city before you wire earnest money.

A family-member transfer that keeps grandfathering is a statutory sentence, not a title-company slogan. If the deed is going to an LLC, a partner, or a buyer who is not blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption, do not assume 2.2.4.C still holds. Ask the city in writing. A listing that says “permitted STVR” on the day you tour can be a listing that loses that status the day the deed records. That is the whole point of citing sale and transfer as terminating events.

Leiper's Fork is not on the city's STVR form

Leiper's Fork is unincorporated Williamson County. The City of Franklin STVR permit attaches to a city APN. It does not follow a guest who liked the Trace. A village listing that tells a buyer “Franklin already permitted this use” is selling the wrong clerk. Williamson County's Business Tax desk for hotel-motel tax and short-term property rental is published at williamsoncounty-tn.gov/1747. The phone on that page is. Start there. Ask Planning, on the same call or the next one, how the county currently treats short-term use in your zoning district.

No county-wide STR zoning ordinance was opened as a primary this pass. That sentence is not “the county has no rules.” Nolensville, a different incorporated town in the same county, publishes its own 4 percent hotel-motel occupancy tax that names short-term rentals. Do not paste Nolensville onto Leiper's Fork. Do not paste Brentwood onto Leiper's Fork. Do not paste Franklin's Title 13 onto an unincorporated barn. Themarket reportalready said AirROI's Franklin file names Leipers Fork as a neighborhood. A neighborhood label is not a city limit.

If you are buying, pull the parcel map first. City versus county is a GIS fact, not a vibe. A driveway that “feels like Franklin” can still sit outside the STVR portal. A Main Street address can sit inside it. Thevisitor guidecan send a guest to both pins in one Saturday. Your permit cannot. Print the parcel map that shows city versus county.

Williamson County Planning and the county property assessor map are the two tabs that settle the argument. If the pin is inside the city polygon, Title 13 and the electronic STVR form are your homework. If the pin is outside, the /1747 desk and a Planning call are your homework. A listing title that says “Franklin, TN” because the guest-search pin is Franklin does not move the city limit. AirROI's 410-listing file will happily mix both kinds of pins. Your certificate will not.

Nashville's freeze is a different county's story

Metro Nashville / Davidson County runs a permit-type system that distinguishes owner-occupied from non-owner-occupied short-term rentals and, in 2022, froze new investor product in a defined residential slice of that map. Those rules are real. They are also next door. They do not apply to a Williamson County parcel. A host who underwrites Franklin as “Nashville but quieter, same permit” is underwriting the wrong statute.

What you still owe the State of Tennessee is tax, not Metro's zoning. Tennessee state sales tax at 7 percent plus Williamson County's local option — commonly listed at 2.75 percent on UT/MTAS tables since April 2018 — is a Department of Revenue stack for qualifying short stays. Confirm the live local-rate table the week you file. Platforms often collect on platform bookings. Direct bookings are your return. This report will not invent a combined “all-in lodging tax” percentage because a blog added 7, 2.75, 4, and another 4 and called it a day.

City of Franklin hotel occupancy tax in the city's own FY26 budget copy was described as 4 percent, with a proposed move to 5 percent still under consideration as of July 2025 and mentioned again in a February 2026 BOMA brief. This page will not invent that the 5 percent already passed. Williamson County's occupancy / hotel-motel tax is the desk at /1747. Secondary 4 percent figures for the county are unopened here. Hedge. Ask the clerk. Thefinancepost is the loan stack, not the occupancy-tax return.

Secondary rules you will verify, not copy as statute

Guides that opened the city's FAQ and checklist — bnbcalc citing a July 2026 read of the city FAQ PDF, Grant Hammond's Mid-Tennessee comparison table — print a $60 permit, a 365-day refresh, a 24-hour minimum, a 21-day maximum, four bedrooms or fewer, $1 million in liability, and the owner off-premises during the stay. Those are useful hypotheses. They are not this cluster's locks. The $60 figure is the one most likely to be on Appendix A. It is also the one most likely to have moved. Open Appendix A.

Insurance, sleeping-room counts, and 24-hour contact fields are the kind of thing a portal will demand even when a blog forgot them. The electronic form since November 2022 is where the city currently collects that packet. If the live form asks for a site plan, a parking count, or a septic letter, that is the requirement, not a paragraph in a 2015 ordinance you have not opened. Do not invent a spacing-foot rule for Franklin because Yellow Springs has one. Do not invent a 180-night cap because Loudoun County has one.

NewsChannel 5's 2020 piece on later restrictions, including one rental per lot, is dated reporting. Keep it dated. A 2020 broadcast is not the 2026 code. TheDIYpost is whether you hire someone to keep the listing legal and specific. Compliance is still your name on the application. NewsChannel 5 on February 17, 2020 reported later rules that included one short-term rental per lot.

What to carry to the counter

Print the parcel map that shows city versus county. Print the city's STVR page and the current how-to PDF. Print Title 13 Chapter 2 and Appendix An once they load. Print zoning 2.2.4 if you are buying a house that already advertised as an STVR. For a village parcel, print the county /1747 page and a note of the call — who you spoke with, what they said about zoning, what they said about the hotel-motel return. Platforms do not file your zoning. They may file a tax.

Bring the AirROI file if you want, but leave the “Low” badge in the car. Themarket reportalready told you 410 listings, named-town AirROI figures as of 2026-07-31 as the median month, and 11 percent professionally managed. None of that substitutes for a certificate of use. None of it substitutes for a county tax ID. Thestartuppost will not invent a furnish budget to make the $60 feel like the whole stack.

If the counter tells you the parcel is ineligible, believe the counter. A Trace sunset is not a variance. A Main Street festival crowd is not a grandfather. Franklin, Tennessee is not Franklin, North Carolina, and it is not Metro Nashville. Three clerks. One APN. Open the one that matches the pin. If you researched Nashville first, unlearn that stack before you treat a Cotton Lane barn or a Main Street cottage as a Nashville APN with a prettier porch.

Twenty-one days is a definition, not a marketing slogan

The city's public snippet is the only duration lock this draft will treat as city voice: entire dwellings, less than 21 days. Secondary reads of Title 13 add a 24-hour floor — no money for occupancy shorter than a day — and a 21-day ceiling for the same occupant. If that ceiling is still in the live chapter, a 28-night remote-worker stay is not an STVR as the city defined the word. It may still be legal as a longer rental. It may owe a different tax. It may need a different certificate. Do not invent the workaround on this page.

AirROI's Franklin file already has 27.6 percent of listings on a 30-night-or-longer minimum and a median stay around five nights. Those are two products inside one dashboard. The weekend battlefield guest and the four-week desk guest are not the same permit conversation. Theshoulderpost is how you price January. This page is why you do not advertise January as a 30-night STVR if the city still uses 21 days as the edge of the chapter.

Ask Building and Neighborhood Services, in writing, how they classify a booking of 22 nights, 28 nights, and 31 nights on a parcel that holds an STVR certificate. Keep the email. A platform calendar that allows 30 nights is not a legal opinion. Neither is this paragraph. This page is why you do not advertise January as a 30-night STVR if the city still uses 21 days as the edge of the chapter.

How this cluster will keep the clerks separate

Every later post in this cluster will say Franklin, TN in the title and franklin-tn in the slug. None of them will use a bare franklin slug. None of them will treat a Leiper's Fork how-to as a Title 13 walkthrough. Themarket reportalready refused a village-only ADR. Thetourism datapost will refuse to turn $1.37 billion in 2024 county visitor spending into a permit. Thestartuppost will hedge every furnish and insurance dollar that is not on a receipt or on Appendix A.

If you only remember one line, remember this: the pin decides the clerk, the clerk decides the form, and AirROI does not run either office. Open franklintn.gov if you are in the city. if you are in the village. Do not call Metro Nashville unless the parcel is in Davidson County, which this cluster is not.

Thehow-to-marketpost can name Puckett's and the Double Arch in the same Saturday. This post cannot name Title 13 and a village barn in the same application. That is the quality bar for the rest of the cluster: fat paragraphs, named clerks, no invented fees, no Franklin NC slug. If a later post fuses the desks, it is wrong, even if it is long.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Nashville's short-term rental rules apply in Franklin, TN?

Franklin is in Williamson County, outside Metro Nashville / Davidson County. Owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied Metro permit types and the 2022 residential-zone investor freeze do not attach to a Franklin or Leiper's Fork APN. Unlearn that stack before you buy. Metro Nashville / Davidson County runs a permit-type system that distinguishes owner-occupied from non-owner-occupied short-term rentals and, in 2022, froze new investor product in a defined residential slice of that map.

Is Airbnb legal in the City of Franklin, Tennessee?

The city's official STVR page allows short-term vacation rentals as entire dwellings rented for less than 21 days and has required electronic applications since November 7, 2022. Eligibility still depends on the parcel, Title 13, and zoning. Open franklintn.gov/business/short-term-vacation-rentals. The city tells you STVRs are entire dwellings rented for less than 21 days and that paper applications ended November 7, 2022.

Does the City of Franklin STVR permit cover Leiper's Fork?

Leiper's Fork is unincorporated Williamson County. The city permit attaches to a city APN. Start with the county Business Tax desk at williamsoncounty-tn.gov/1747 and, then ask Planning how your zoning district treats short-term use. Ask Planning, on the same call or the next one, how the county currently treats short-term use in your zoning district.

What does AirROI's Low regulation badge mean here?

Nothing you can take to a clerk. The badge is wrong for incorporated Franklin. The city has an STVR program, Title 13, and a zoning nonconformity section. Cite the city page, not AirROI, for law. AirROI's Franklin, Tennessee file still prints “regulation = Low.” That badge is wrong for an incorporated parcel. A listing title that says “Franklin, TN” because the guest-search pin is Franklin does not move the city limit.

Is the $60 Franklin STVR fee locked in this cluster?

Secondary guides that opened the city FAQ PDF cite $60 and a 365-day refresh under section 13-214. This draft could not open that PDF. Confirm Appendix An and the live FAQ the week you apply. Secondary guides that did open those PDFs name a $60 application, a 365-day refresh under section 13-214, and a four-bedroom cap.

What is the 21-day rule in Franklin?

The city's public snippet defines STVRs as entire dwellings rented for less than 21 days. Secondary reads of Title 13 also cite a 24-hour minimum and a 21-day maximum. A longer stay may still be a rental. The city's public snippet is the only duration lock this draft will treat as city voice: entire dwellings, less than 21 days.

Does grandfathering mean I can buy any existing Franklin STVR and keep operating?

The January 13, 2026 zoning text we opened cites T.C.A. § 13-7-603: sale, transfer, 30 continuous months of non-use, or three separate generally-applicable-law violations can end grandfathering, with a family-member exception. Confirm 2.2.4 with the city before you close. § 13-7-603: legally established, permitted STVRs stay under the law in place at the time of that use until the property is sold, transferred, ceases being used as an STVR for 30 continuous months, or has been in violation of generally applicable local laws three or more separate times as provided by T.C.A.

Which occupancy taxes apply?

Confirm three layers: Tennessee sales tax plus Williamson local option with DOR, City of Franklin hotel occupancy tax if you are in the city (budget copy described 4 percent, with a proposed 5 percent not treated as passed here), and the county hotel-motel desk at /1747. Do not invent an all-in stack. City of Franklin hotel occupancy tax in the city's own FY26 budget copy was described as 4 percent, with a proposed move to 5 percent still under consideration as of July 2025 and mentioned again in a February 2026 BOMA brief.

Keep going on Crest & Cove:the Crest & Cove intro·local SEO keywords that actually book·the five elements of a converting hero·how to compare STR marketing agencies·OTA fees without leftover occupancy lifts·this cluster on named-town facts·Destin against AirROI, not leftover year·the last cluster against named-town facts.

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