Now that we’ve briefly clarified what ADUs are, let’s take a look at how the latest laws have made building ADUs easier.
Starting with November of the last year, 2019, ADUs became a highlight of state housing legislation, after 5 major bills and several more were signed into the law extending the right for Californians to build such structures on their single-family property.
Considering building a small detached unit and also converting the garage into an ADU? The new laws, in addition, allows three units. According to ADU advocate, Ira Belgrade, people can have both an ADU and a junior ADU on single-family lots.
Top-drawer among the bills is Assembly Bill 68 by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), which encourages other states and countries to favor more ADUs by rationalizing their review process. It also boosts the timeline to approve an ADU application from 120 days to 60 days as well as reducing the power to reject structures less than 850 square feet, therefore approving smaller units. Going further into the small structures department, Assembly Bill 69 also by Phil, establishes a building code standard for small structures.
Moreover, in Senate Bill 13, Sen. Bob Wieckowski forbids stately government from enforcing an “owner-occupant requirement” which requires the person applying for an ADU to live at the property. However, the major benefit that this Bill brings is reducing the fees due to building the units.