ADU rules in Shelby County, TN — also called accessory dwelling unit regulations or granny flat ordinances — cover setbacks, owner-occupancy, parking, and permit requirements.
In unincorporated Shelby County, the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code allows one accessory dwelling unit per lot, only accessory to a single-family detached home, with living area capped by lot size and subject to administrative site plan review.
The Memphis/Shelby County UDC governs accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on unincorporated county land. Under UDC Sec. 2.7.2D, an ADU is permitted only as accessory to a single-family detached dwelling, no more than one per lot, and requires administrative site plan review. Size is set by lot area: on lots under 10,000 square feet, no ADU may be built after March 11, 2014; on lots of at least 10,000 square feet but under 1.5 acres, the ADU cannot exceed 700 square feet or one-third of the principal dwelling's ground-floor area, whichever is smaller; on 1.5-acre-plus lots, it cannot exceed 50 percent of that area. One extra parking space is required per 500 square feet. Cities apply their own zoning.
Building an ADU that exceeds the lot-based size cap, adds a second ADU, or skips administrative site plan review is a UDC zoning violation in unincorporated Shelby County, enforced by Planning and Development under the joint zoning ordinance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Shelby County's adu rules rules stack up against other locations.
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