Las Cruces, NM Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Section 38-33A(c) of the Las Cruces Land Development Code limits who can live in an accessory dwelling unit: the unit 'shall be created solely to accommodate those related to the family,' and actual occupancy must match that intent under Section 38-33A(a)'s owner-residency rule. That language rules out treating an ADU as a standalone rental unit leased to the general public, whether short-term or long-term, since the approval itself is granted only on the premise of housing family.

The code backs this up with an automatic-void mechanism. Under Section 38-33A(k), if ownership of the property changes and the new occupant of the accessory dwelling unit is no longer a family member of the owner, or if the intended occupancy status changes in any way, the ADU use 'shall cause said use to immediately become void,' with no grace period for finding a compliant tenant first. The new or present owner then has two options: apply to the city for continued accessory unit use, presumably by re-establishing a family occupancy arrangement, or reconvert the structure back into a single, unified single-family dwelling as required by the Land Development Code. Renting the ADU to an unrelated tenant while retaining the family exemption on paper, or subdividing occupancy after a sale without notifying the city, both fall outside what the ordinance allows.