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

Placentia's owner-occupancy rule sits in Section 23.73.090 of the Municipal Code, which governs junior accessory dwelling units. A junior unit is allowed in a single-family residential zone within the footprint of an existing or proposed single-family dwelling, including an attached garage, and cannot exceed 500 interior livable square feet. It needs an efficiency kitchen, a separate entrance, and no additional parking. The owner of the property must record a deed restriction that runs with the land.

Subsection (7)(D) is the occupancy term: the owner must reside in either the primary residence or the junior accessory dwelling unit. Three exceptions follow. First, the owner can rent both the primary residence and the junior unit to one party, provided the lease bars that party from subleasing any unit or portion of one. Second, the restriction does not apply if the owner of the single-family residence is a governmental agency, land trust or housing organization. Third, it does not apply if the junior unit does not share sanitation facilities with the existing structure.

The same recorded deed restriction also prohibits selling the junior unit apart from the single-family residence, bars enlarging it beyond 500 interior livable square feet, and bars renting either the junior unit or the primary residence for less than thirty (31) consecutive, calendar days. Subsection (7)(E) requires a statement that the deed restrictions can be enforced against future purchasers, and a copy of the recorded restriction is filed with the community development department.

For a full accessory dwelling unit, the restrictions printed in Section 23.73.070(3) cover separate sale, the 31-day rental floor and successor binding effect. None of them requires the owner to live on the property.