Monterey Park, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Monterey Park's Chapter 21.50, adopted by Ordinance 2261 in April 2025, blocks short-term rentals of both accessory dwelling unit categories through the covenant mechanism in Section 21.50.020(A). Subsection (1) states that an ADU may not be used in violation of the code and that any rental of the ADU must run for 30 days or longer. Subsection (2), which otherwise governs JADU ownership and sale restrictions, closes with its own sentence making clear the JADU cannot be rented for any period less than 30 days either.

Both restrictions must be written into the same covenant recorded with the County Recorder before the Building Official will issue a final certificate of occupancy for the unit, and Section 21.50.020(B) requires the City Attorney to approve the covenant's form before recording. Because the 30-day floor is baked into the recorded covenant rather than a standalone prohibition, the city's enforcement path runs through the covenant itself: a violation is both a breach of the recorded instrument and a code violation. The rule applies uniformly across the city's residential zones wherever an ADU or JADU is permitted, and it applies whether the unit is attached to, or detached from, the primary dwelling defined in Section 21.50.010.