Pasadena, CA Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Pasadena locks down accessory dwelling unit rentals in two places. 4 repeats the identical 30-day floor for Junior ADUs created on or after that date. Together the two subsections rule out nightly or weekly Airbnb-style bookings in any ADU or Junior ADU built under the current ordinance. c specifies that an accessory dwelling unit or accessory structure permitted after January 1, 2017 cannot be used for short-term rental at all, even though a legally permitted unit built before that date can sometimes be short-term rented alongside the main house under the pre-2017 grandfather provision in that same subsection.

2 adds a related restriction: an ADU or Junior ADU cannot be sold separately from the primary single-family home, so an owner cannot subdivide off the accessory unit as its own for-sale property, unless it was developed by a qualified nonprofit corporation under Government Code Section 66341. Read together, these rules keep new Pasadena ADUs and Junior ADUs functioning as long-term housing stock, either owner-occupied or leased on standard month-to-month or longer terms, rather than as short-term lodging or a separately marketable real estate asset.