Tippecanoe County, IN Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Section 4-12(g) of the county's Unified Zoning Ordinance requires that the owner of a property with an accessory dwelling unit live on the premises, either in the principal dwelling unit or the ADU, and maintain that address as their primary place of residence. This closes off the option of building an ADU purely as an investment or rental property while the owner lives elsewhere. The requirement is enforced through subsection (m): as a condition of approval, the owner must prepare a deed restriction, which the Administrative Officer reviews and approves before the applicant records it with the County Recorder.

That recorded restriction also has to confirm the property remains eligible for a Homestead tax exemption, tying the ADU approval to the owner's homestead status on the parcel. Because the deed restriction runs with the land, a subsequent buyer of a property with an existing ADU inherits the same owner-occupancy obligation, not just the seller. The rule sits alongside the rest of § 4-12's ADU standards, which limit the county to one ADU per lot, cap living area at 50% of the principal dwelling's ground floor (or 400 square feet, whichever is greater under the section's formula), and restrict ADUs to rural zones of the unincorporated county administered by the Area Plan Commission.