Stonecrest, GA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Sec. 4.2.3.C makes attached and detached accessory dwelling units permitted by right on a residential single-family lot, but only once a use-and-occupancy condition is met alongside the lot-size, size and design standards in the rest of the subsection: the property owner, defined broadly enough to reach titleholders and contract purchasers, has to occupy either the principal house or the ADU as an actual residence. The occupancy test is tied to a homestead exemption, the property-tax filing that only applies to an owner's primary residence, so the city can point to the DeKalb County tax digest to confirm the owner genuinely lives on the property rather than renting out both units as absentee income property.

Subsection C.2 backs this owner-occupancy condition with a construction standard: the ADU itself must conform to applicable state and city building codes for residential units used as principal uses, so it cannot be built to a lighter accessory-only code and still be occupied as someone's residence. Because the requirement sits inside the same by-right pathway as the lot-size and unit-cap standards, losing homestead status, for example by moving out of both units, or by selling to an owner who does not occupy either unit, converts the property's use into a noncompliant duplex rather than a lawful ADU.