Yorba Linda, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Yorba Linda Municipal Code § 18.20.850.H, Owner Occupancy Required, makes owner-occupancy a perpetual condition attached to the property, not just a one-time approval condition. Before the City issues a final building permit for the ADU, the owner must record a restrictive covenant establishing the requirement and present proof of recordation to the Community Development Director. The covenant runs with the land, meaning it binds future owners of the property, not just the applicant who built the unit. The code carves out a temporary State-law exception: an ADU permitted between January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2025, is exempt from the owner-occupancy condition, reflecting the state moratorium on local owner-occupancy mandates that applied during that window.

Outside that window, if the property owner does not live in either the principal residence or the ADU, subsection H requires the owner to give the City the name of a local contact person available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, who can respond to and remedy any Municipal Code violations connected to the property. Junior accessory dwelling units carry a parallel, non-expiring owner-occupancy rule at § 18.20.860.B and .G.3, which similarly requires the property owner to reside in one of the dwelling units on the property, recorded the same way at final permit stage under § 18.20.860.G.