Accessory Dwelling Units in Santa Barbara: It’s Now The Law
We are excited to announce a new law that went into effect throughout California (including Santa Barbara County) on January 1st, regarding “Accessory Dwelling Units”.
Since California has not kept up with the demand for housing, the cost of housing has continued to rise and people are driving longer distances to work. The California Legislature (passed) and Governor Brown (signed) a new law allowing Accessory Dwelling Units, also referred to as second units, in-law units, granny flats.
Please click on this link below to read about this new law.
http://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/docs/2016-12-12-ADU-TA-Memo.docx.pdf
In summary, the Accessory Dwelling Units is a secondary dwelling unit with complete independent living facilities for one or more persons and generally takes three forms:
- Detached: The unit is separated from the primary structure
- Attached: The unit is attached to the primary structure
- Repurposed Existing Space: Space (e.g., master bedroom) within the primary residence is converted into an independent living unit.
In the City of Santa Barbara and Carpinteria where the Zoning Information Report is required upon the sale of a home, this would includes converted garages whether attached or detached. However, you would first want to go through the permitting process prior to selling your home and ordering the Zoning Information Report.
Since this is new, this would be a great time to apply for this before the City tries to place limitations. If you currently are thinking of selling your home or have a home with a garage or other unit that was converted into living space, we would be happy to meet with you to discuss how this could impact your price and to give you recommendations on planners who are familiar with this new law. We are very excited about this new program.