Eagan, MN Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Item 2 of the ADU performance standards is the owner-occupancy backbone of the whole program: the property owner, not a tenant or manager, must reside in either the primary residence or the ADU as their permanent home. The code sets a bright-line minimum of 185 days per calendar year, and during that time the property has to remain the owner's actual legal and principal residence, not a vacation home or investment property they visit occasionally to satisfy the letter of the rule. The unit that is not the owner's residence can then be rented out, but the arrangement only works because one half of the duplex-style setup is always owner-occupied; renting both the primary residence and the ADU to separate tenants, with the owner living elsewhere, does not meet the standard.

Item 3 backs the occupancy rule with an ownership rule: an ADU cannot be subdivided or otherwise segregated in ownership from the primary residence structure, so a buyer cannot purchase just the ADU or record it as a separate parcel. Together the two clauses keep Eagan's ADU program tied to owner-occupied, single-family neighborhoods rather than functioning as a general duplex conversion or an investor-owned two-unit rental, which is the tradeoff the city made in exchange for allowing a second dwelling unit on an Estate or R-1 lot at all.