Do you have to live on the property to build an ADU in California?

Do I have to live on the property to build an ADU in California?

No. Government Code section 66315 says a city may not impose any standard beyond the state list, including an owner-occupant requirement ¹. HCD, the state housing department, reads it the same way: a local agency cannot impose an owner-occupancy requirement on any ADU, with one narrow exception for certain nonprofit sales covered below ².

Los Angeles follows the state rule. City Planning's ADU memo says AB 976 permanently removed the authority of local agencies to require owner-occupancy of an ADU on a lot with a single-family house ⁵.

In practice that means:

• You can build a backyard house or a garage conversion on a property you rent out and do not live in.
• You can move out later and rent both the house and the ADU.
• A buyer of your house does not inherit a duty to live there because of the ADU.

Didn't California used to require owners to live there?

Cities once could, and the state took that power away in two steps. First, SB 13 barred owner-occupancy requirements for ADUs approved between January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2025 ⁴. That ban had an end date, so on paper cities could have brought the rule back in 2025.

Then AB 976 removed the 2025 sunset and made the ban permanent, effective January 1, 2024 ³⁵. HCD's ADU handbook, updated in March 2026, still says a local agency cannot impose an owner-occupancy requirement on an ADU ². The owner-occupancy change passed in 2025, AB 1154, was about JADUs instead, which is the next question ¹⁷.

So if you read an older article warning that owner-occupancy might return in 2025, it is out of date.

Does the owner-occupancy rule still apply to a JADU?

Sometimes. Since January 1, 2026, a JADU that shares a bathroom with the house requires the owner to live on the property, and a JADU with its own bathroom does not ¹⁶¹⁷.

A JADU is the up-to-500-square-foot unit carved out of the inside of the house, and it has other strings attached too, including a recorded deed restriction. We cover those, and how Los Angeles applies them, in JADU vs ADU: what is the difference in Los Angeles?. If you will not live on the property, a regular ADU avoids the question entirely.

Can I rent out both the house and the ADU?

Yes. State law says an ADU may be rented separately from the main house ⁶, and nothing in it requires you to live in either one ¹. A city also cannot record an affordable-housing deed restriction on your ADU ⁹.

What a city can control is the length of the rental:

• Any ADU. A local agency may require ADUs to be rented for terms longer than 30 days ¹⁰⁵.
• ADUs approved under the state's must-approve path. For these, the 30-day minimum is not optional; state law requires it ¹¹. That path, Government Code section 66323, covers an ADU made from existing space in the house or an accessory structure such as a garage, and a new detached ADU with four-foot side and rear setbacks that a city may cap at 800 square feet ¹²¹³.

Renting to a tenant on a lease of a month or more is the use the law has in mind. Short stays are a different question in Los Angeles.

Can I put my ADU on Airbnb in Los Angeles if I don't live there?

No. Under the City of Los Angeles Home-Sharing rules, an ADU whose building permit application was submitted on or after January 1, 2017, may not be used for short-term rentals unless it is the host's primary residence ¹⁴. The city defines primary residence as the one place the host lives for more than six months of the year ¹⁵.

This is where owner-occupancy quietly comes back. You do not have to live on the property to build or rent an ADU, but to rent a newer ADU by the night in Los Angeles, you have to live in it. If short stays are part of your plan, read the City Planning guidelines, dated September 2026, before you design around them ¹⁴.

Can I sell the ADU separately from the house?

Not by default. State law says an ADU may be rented separately but shall not be sold or conveyed separately from the main house, except where the separate-sale article of the law applies ⁶. That article lets a city adopt its own ordinance allowing the house and the ADU to be sold as condominiums, and it creates a narrow exception for properties built by a qualified nonprofit ⁷.

The nonprofit sale is also the one case where owner-occupancy can be required for an ADU: the buyer has to live in the ADU or the main house as a principal residence ²¹⁹.

In Los Angeles, the condominium option is Council File 25-0753 ⁸, and as of October 2026 the City has not adopted it; see can I sell my ADU separately. Until the city adopts an ordinance, plan on the ADU staying part of the same property as the house. Whether your lot can take a backyard house at all, and where it would sit, is the kind of thing a lot check settles.

Quick answers

Sources

1. Government Code section 66315, State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10
2. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): Owner-Occupancy, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
3. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): AB 976 and AB 1033, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
4. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): SB 13, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
5. ZA Memorandum No. 143, Revision 1 (August 1, 2025): Owner Occupancy, Los Angeles Department of City Planning, Office of Zoning Administration. Facts checked 2026-10-10
6. Government Code section 66314(d)(1), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10
7. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): Sales and Separate Conveyance, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
8. Council File 25-0753, Community Impact Statement (North Westwood Neighborhood Council), Los Angeles City Clerk. Facts checked 2026-10-10
9. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): Deed Restrictions, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
10. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): Rental Terms, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
11. Government Code section 66323(e), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10
12. Government Code section 66323(a)(1)(A), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10
13. Government Code section 66323(a)(2), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10
14. Home-Sharing Administrative Guidelines (September 28, 2026): prohibited activities, Los Angeles Department of City Planning. Facts checked 2026-10-10
15. Home-Sharing Administrative Guidelines (September 28, 2026): definition of Primary Residence, Los Angeles Department of City Planning. Facts checked 2026-10-10
16. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): AB 1154 and JADU owner-occupancy, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
17. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): AB 1154, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
18. Accessory Dwelling Unit Handbook (March 2026): Funding, California Department of Housing and Community Development. Facts checked 2026-10-10
19. Government Code section 66341(c)(3), State of California (text via California.Public.Law). Facts checked 2026-10-10

Greenlight is not a contractor, architect or engineer, and this is not legal advice. Rules change; every fact here shows the date we last checked it.