Orange County, FL Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

2, headed "Ownership," is the specific owner-occupancy rule. It requires the primary single-family dwelling and the accessory dwelling unit to remain under single ownership at all times, requires the underlying lot or parcel to qualify as homestead property, and requires the owner of the lot to occupy either the primary dwelling or the ADU at all times, not merely at the moment of permitting. The same provision states that approving an ADU never constitutes approval to separately own or divide the lot; any later attempt to split the parcel has to independently satisfy all applicable laws, ordinances and regulations, including zoning regulations and access requirements, from scratch.

This owner-occupancy rule sits inside a broader ADU framework: subsection (2)a caps a lot to one ADU by right, requires the ADU to remain subordinate to the primary home, and bars construction before the primary dwelling is built and occupied. Subsection (2)b allows a mobile home as an ADU only in agricultural districts on parcels of at least two developable acres. 14 separately bars transient rental of thirty days or less for any ADU, except in the R-3 district, reinforcing that these units are built for long-term occupancy tied to the owner rather than investment or short-term rental income. 15 allows a detached ADU to obtain its own separate power meter, subject to utility company approval, while an attached ADU cannot.