What changed in California ADU law in 2025 and 2026

In effect since 2025

• SB 1211 (2024, effective January 1, 2025): up to eight detached ADUs on a lot with an apartment building, never more than its existing units; demolished uncovered parking no longer has to be replaced; see multifamily ADUs.
• AB 2533 (2024, effective January 1, 2025): the amnesty for unpermitted ADUs now covers units built before 2020, with limits on fees and penalties; see legalizing an unpermitted ADU.
• AB 130 (June 30, 2025): covenants (such as CC&Rs) can't impose fees or other financial requirements as "reasonable restrictions" on ADUs.
• AB 462 (October 10, 2025): cities must decide an ADU's coastal development permit within 60 days; where the Governor declared an emergency on or after February 1, 2025 and the house was substantially damaged or destroyed, an ADU can get its certificate of occupancy before the rebuilt house.

In effect since January 1, 2026

• SB 543: cities must say whether an application is complete within 15 business days and decide appeals within 60; sizes are measured as interior living space, including the impact-fee thresholds (750 square feet for an ADU, 500 for a junior ADU); a city can't require fire sprinklers in a junior ADU unless the house needs them; several sections were renumbered (see ADU fees).
• SB 9 (2025): a city's ADU ordinance is null and void if it isn't sent to the state within 60 days of adoption, or if the city doesn't answer the state's findings within 30 days; the city must then apply state law. (A different law from SB 9 of 2021 on lot splits.)
• AB 1154: owner-occupancy is required only for a junior ADU that shares a bathroom with the house, and junior ADUs must be rented for more than 30 days.
• AB 818: during a local emergency, cities must decide complete applications for temporary housing, including detached units meeting ADU standards, within 10 business days.

Coming January 1, 2027

• AB 956: two new detached ADUs on a single-family lot instead of one; a city then needn't allow a junior ADU on that lot; the ban on covenants that block ADUs covers every lot zoned to allow single-family homes.
• SB 1117: on an ADU over 750 square feet, impact fees only on the area above 750.

Both were signed on September 29, 2026 (Governor's release); the official chapter numbers weren't posted yet when we checked.

See also: California ADU rules, ADU fees, SB 9 lot splits, multifamily ADUs.

Summarized from each bill's text and digest and the state's ADU Handbook (March 2026). General information, not legal advice.

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