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

040, and the owner-occupancy rule attaches to only one of them: the Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit, or JADU. A JADU is an Accessory Dwelling Unit built entirely within the existing building envelope of a One-Family Residential Facility, commonly a converted attached garage or interior room. It may share sanitation facilities with the primary home but must always contain its own efficiency kitchen, and it cannot be created by converting a detached accessory structure, which instead falls under the Category Two ADU classifications. Because a JADU sits inside the same structure as the primary residence, the code requires that either the JADU itself or the primary Residential Facility be owner-occupied, and the property owner must record a deed restriction memorializing that requirement before the JADU can be established.

This owner-occupancy and deed-restriction rule is specific to JADUs; the code's other five ADU categories, including One-Family Category One and Category Two ADUs and the Multifamily Category One through Three ADUs, carry no equivalent owner-occupancy condition in the definitions section, consistent with state ADU law's general bar on owner-occupancy mandates for standard ADUs. 88 covering size, parking and design.