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

120 of the Orange Municipal Code separates owner-occupancy rules for ADUs and JADUs. Subsection (B) states owner occupancy was not required for a property with an ADU or its primary residence until after January 1, 2025, at which point it becomes required for new ADUs unless the applicable state-law provision is extended. Subsection (C) imposes a standing owner-occupancy requirement on any single-family dwelling that includes a JADU: the owner must live in either the remaining portion of the house or in the JADU itself. That JADU requirement carries a carve-out, however, so a governmental agency, land trust, or housing organization that owns the property is exempt from having to occupy it.

Because the ADU threshold is tied directly to state law's own sunset provision, whether owner-occupancy currently applies to a given ADU depends on whether Sacramento has since extended the exemption referenced in subsection (B), making this one of the few Orange accessory-structure rules whose effective date moves with state legislative action rather than a fixed local deadline.