Texas City, TX Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

The rental rule for a backyard unit in Texas City, Texas comes from two sections of Chapter 160. Section 160.083(A) applies to every district zoned for residential uses, which § 160.083(D) lists as A, A-1, A-2, B, C, C-1 and MH. In those districts an accessory building cannot be used for commercial purposes and cannot be rented. The definitions in § 160.006 describe an accessory building or structure as a subordinate building, attached to or detached from the main building, with a use customarily incidental to the main building on the same lot. In a residence district that includes garages for automobile storage, tool houses, greenhouses, home workshops, playhouses for children, storage houses and garden shelters, but not the conduct of a business.

Guest quarters are the closest thing the code prints to an accessory dwelling. Sections 160.024(C)(2) and 160.025(C)(2) list guest quarters as an accessory use in Districts A and A-1, located at least 60 feet from the front property line and meeting the other yard requirements. Section 160.006 defines GUEST QUARTER as a secondary structure on a lot that can contain dwelling accommodations for the occupancy by guests not for rent or lease or permanent occupancy, and it adds that such a building shall not have a separate utility meter. Rent, a lease, permanent occupancy and a second utility meter each take a unit outside that definition.

Because the rent bar is written on the building and not on the tenant, an accessory building let to a paying tenant falls inside § 160.083(A). The route the code prints for paying overnight guests is different: a bed and breakfast in District S-P under § 160.051, where the applicant must own and reside at the site.