Bannock County, ID Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Bannock County's accessory cottage dwelling ordinance, Section 17.52.077, lets a landowner in the residential rural (RR), residential suburban (RS) or recreation (REC) zoning district add one attached or detached accessory housing unit on a parcel that does not otherwise qualify for a second dwelling permit. Planning and Development Services staff reviews and approves the site plan; no public hearing is required. Subsection B is explicit: the accessory cottage dwelling shall not be rented or occupied for gain, meaning the unit exists strictly for family or caretaking use, not as a rental income property.

The cottage must be installed as real property on a permanent foundation (subsection C), and its septic system and domestic water supply must be inspected and approved by the appropriate agency before occupancy (subsection D). Placement is constrained too: the cottage generally must sit within one hundred feet of the principal dwelling, though the planning department may allow greater separation if a shorter distance is physically impractical (subsection E), and the cottage must share the same driveway approach and address as the main house (subsection F).

Before Planning and Development Services will issue a building permit, the property owner must record a deed restriction stating the accessory cottage dwelling is forevermore tied to the principal building and can never be separated onto its own parcel for sale or any other purpose (subsection G). Because the deed restriction runs with the land, a later owner inherits the same rental prohibition and the same inseparability from the main house. Any conflict between this section and another adopted code, including the building code, is resolved in favor of the more restrictive standard.