Make a junior ADU inside the house

The rule

• One junior ADU per single-family lot, inside the walls of the house. An attached garage counts as part of the house.
• Up to 500 sq ft of interior livable space.
• It needs its own outside door and an efficiency kitchen: a cooking appliance, a counter and storage cabinets.
• With its own bathroom, the City can't require the owner to live on the property.

The numbers

What you can build

• Use a bedroom, part of the house, or part of the attached garage.
• Share a bathroom with the house. Then the owner has to live in the house or in the junior unit.
• Add it alongside a garage ADU and a new detached ADU on the same lot.
• Skip new parking and a separate utility connection.
• Pay no impact fees at 500 sq ft or less, and no school fees under 500 sq ft.

What it doesn’t allow

• Sell it apart from the house. A deed restriction, recorded with the City, says so.
• Put it in a detached building or an apartment building.
• Go over 500 sq ft. A bigger unit inside the house is built as an ADU instead.
• Rent it for 30 days or less.

Check first

• A shared bathroom brings the owner-occupancy rule with it. If you might move out, give the unit its own bath.
• Fire separation from the house and an egress window in the bedroom area.