Salt Lake County, UT Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Salt Lake County treats an accessory dwelling unit as long-term housing stock, not short-term lodging, and backs that with two linked rules in Chapter 19.15. Section 19.15.130 requires a business license before an owner may rent out an ADU at all, and that license "must be maintained as long as the unit is rented out," meaning it must stay active and current for the entire rental period, not just at move-in. Section 19.15.150 then fixes the minimum term: "Units approved as ADUs shall not be used as short-term rentals. Any rentals shall be made for thirty consecutive days or more," closing off the nightly and weekly rental model that platforms such as Airbnb use.

These rental rules sit on top of the ADU ownership requirement in Section 19.15.090: either the primary dwelling or the ADU must be owner-occupied, with an absence allowed only for medical treatment, military service, or a religious mission of up to two years, and even then the owner may not collect rent for the unit they were personally occupying. Section 19.15.140(A) reinforces that ADUs "shall not be used as a multi-family residence," and subsection (D) bars selling or subdividing the ADU separately from the house, so the unit can never become an independently marketed rental property distinct from the main home. An applicant must also record a notice and affidavit of the ADU under Section 19.15.120, putting the owner-occupancy and rental limits on the chain of title for any future buyer.