Pocatello, ID Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Pocatello ties its accessory dwelling unit program to owner occupancy rather than allowing a lot to become a fully rented duplex. Section 17.06.100.C.9 states plainly that a deed restriction shall be recorded requiring that either the primary unit or the accessory unit be owner occupied, meaning the property owner, not necessarily a tenant, must live in one of the two units. The restriction is recorded against the title of the property, so it binds future owners as well as the person who built the ADU, and it sits alongside the section's other conditions in § 17.06.100.C.10, which prohibits subdividing or splitting the lot into substandard parcels to create a separate ownership interest in the ADU.

Because the deed restriction is a condition of approval built into the zoning code itself, Planning and Development Services checks for the recorded restriction as part of ADU permitting, and a lot found renting out both the primary home and the accessory unit with no owner living on site is out of compliance with § 17.06.100.C.9 regardless of whether the physical structure otherwise meets the size, parking, and design standards in the rest of the section.