Rutherford County, TN Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Rutherford County splits ADUs into two tracks: by-right units meeting the standards in § 1101 Q.2 and Q.3, and units needing a Special Exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals under Q.4, required for mobile-home or tiny-home ADUs or whenever the by-right standards can't be met. Whichever track applies, the General Provisions in Q.1 are fixed conditions no application can ask to waive. § 1101 Q.1.a is the owner-occupancy rule: the property owner must live in either the principal structure or the ADU itself, ruling out buying a property purely to rent out both units as investment housing. § 1101 Q.1.b limits every lot to one ADU tied to a single-family house; duplexes and multi-family dwellings can't add one at all. § 1101 Q.1.c requires an instrument recorded with the register's office covenanting the accessory-dwelling status and its use conditions, so the restriction runs with the land through a future sale.

Other General Provisions round out the application: development tax fees (Q.1.d), extra off-street parking beyond what the main house needs (Q.1.e), and verification from the Tennessee Department of Environment's Division of Ground Water Protection that the septic system can serve the added unit (Q.1.g). ADUs legally established before these standards took effect are grandfathered under § 1101 Q.5 and stay regulated under their original approval terms.