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

Section 301.16(B)(1) sits in the 'Occupancy and Conveyance Requirements' block of Porterville's accessory dwelling unit standards, which applies across detached, attached, conversion and junior ADUs alike rather than to just one type. It sets a floor, not a ceiling, on how long a tenancy has to run: any rental of an ADU created under section 301.16 must be for a term longer than thirty days. That single sentence forecloses the short-term-rental model entirely inside an ADU, since nightly, weekly or under-thirty-day bookings all fall on the wrong side of the line.

The companion provision, section 301.16(B)(2), addresses a separate topic, letting an ADU be sold or conveyed apart from the primary residence to a qualified buyer if the requirements of Government Code section 66431 are met, which shows the City distinguishing between long-term occupancy rules in subsection 1 and ownership-transfer rules in subsection 2 within the same block. Because the whole of section 301.16 was adopted by Ordinance 1909, effective January 21, 2025, the thirty-day floor applies to ADUs permitted under the current standards. The Community Development Department, which processes ADU building permits, and Porterville's code enforcement staff, who field short-term-rental complaints, both look to this section when a neighbor reports what looks like nightly turnover at a property with a permitted ADU on it.