La Mesa, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

La Mesa's accessory dwelling unit rules, adopted to implement the ministerial ADU pathways created by California Government Code Section 65852.2, add a local rental-term floor. Section 24.05.020(D)(8)(i)(i) requires that any rental of an ADU built under subsection (D)(8)(e) run for terms longer than thirty days, which functions as a citywide ban on nightly or weekly short-term rentals of ADUs, whether booked through a platform or arranged privately. The same subsection separately bars selling or otherwise conveying an ADU apart from the primary residence, though the unit can still be rented once construction is complete and a certificate of occupancy has issued for the primary dwelling.

A narrow carve-out in subsection (D)(8)(i)(iii) allows a nonprofit-built ADU to be conveyed to a qualified low- or moderate-income buyer under a recorded tenancy-in-common agreement and affordability restriction, but that exception governs sale, not the thirty-day rental floor, which applies regardless of who owns the unit. Junior accessory dwelling units carry the identical thirty-day minimum under Section 24.05.020(D)(9)(d), so the restriction reaches both ADU types permitted in La Mesa's residential zones, and a booking shorter than thirty days is not treated as a lawful residential use of either one.