Palm Springs, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

14(E)(7) draws a sharp line between ADUs and JADUs on occupancy. Subsection a states plainly that ADUs are not subject to any owner-occupancy requirement, so an owner may build a detached or attached ADU and rent out either the ADU or the primary home without living on the property. Subsection b takes the opposite approach for JADUs: as required by state law, a natural person holding legal or equitable title to the property must reside on the property, in either the primary dwelling or the JADU, as that person's legal domicile and permanent residence.

i remove that JADU owner-occupancy requirement: first, where the JADU has its own separate sanitation facilities and does not share a bathroom with the primary dwelling; second, where the property is entirely owned by a governmental agency, land trust, or housing organization, which by nature cannot supply a resident owner. 8, which is recorded against title before a certificate of occupancy issues and which the director enforces against future owners, and with the JADU size limit confining JADUs to no more than 500 square feet within an existing or proposed single-family structure.

Because ADUs carry no such residency condition, an investor-owned or fully rented single-family property in Palm Springs can add a detached or attached ADU without triggering any owner-occupancy obligation, while adding a JADU instead requires either a resident owner or one of the two listed exceptions.