Apple Valley, MN Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

The rental limit is § 155.382(D)(22) of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances, the last of the performance standards for an accessory unit dwelling (AUD) in the City of Apple Valley, Minnesota (Dakota County). It was added to the section by Ord. 1121, passed 6-8-23, which amended the original Ord. 729 of 6-26-03.

The text reads broadly. No accessory dwelling unit or portion thereof can be used or allowed to be used as a rental unit for any period less than 30 consecutive days. The bar covers a person paying a fee or other compensation to the owner, and it applies under a lease or contract, whether written or verbal. That wording closes the informal route: a handshake weekend rental is treated the same as a signed short-term lease. The phrase portion thereof also reaches a spare bedroom or part of the AUD, not just the whole unit. In practice this bars nightly and weekly vacation-style rentals of an AUD in Apple Valley. The provision states the floor as a period of 30 consecutive days, and it does not itself create a separate rental license, so any licensing question has to be checked against the city's business and rental regulations in the code.

Other standards in the same section shape who lives in an AUD. The total number of occupants cannot exceed three persons and the unit contains no more than two bedrooms under (D)(9). The property owner, including title holders and contract purchasers, must reside in either the primary residence or the AUD as their permanent residence under (D)(2), so the AUD sits inside an owner-occupied property. An AUD also cannot be subdivided or segregated in ownership from the primary residence under (D)(3). Two off-street parking spaces are required for the AUD, in addition to the two for the primary residence.

All of these apply only where the city has granted a conditional use permit under subsection (C), in R-1 lots of at least 40,000 square feet.