Corona, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

050(B) of the Corona Municipal Code conditions approval of a junior accessory dwelling unit, a unit created within the walls of an existing or proposed primary home, on the property owner living on site. The owner of the lot must occupy, as a principal residence, either the primary unit or the JADU itself; the code does not require the owner to live in one specific unit, only that the owner be a resident of the property. The only carve-out is where the owner is another government agency, land trust or housing organization, entities that by definition cannot occupy a residence themselves.

050(D) turns this obligation into a running condition: before the city issues a building permit, the owner must record a deed restriction with the County Recorder's office, in a form the Planning and Development Director and City Attorney approve, stating that the JADU is permitted only so long as the primary unit or the JADU is occupied by the property's record owner, again except for the government-agency, land-trust or housing-organization exception. That deed restriction runs with the land and binds every future owner, heir or assign, and a copy must be filed with the Planning and Development Department.

Because the restriction is recorded rather than merely a permit condition, a subsequent buyer inherits the occupancy obligation automatically and cannot claim to have been unaware of it.