A-du Insights
Guides, updates, comparisons, and opinions on building, renting, and managing accessory dwelling units across the markets we serve.
Your SF Landlord Wants to Add an ADU. You Have 30 Days.
When a San Francisco owner adds an ADU under the city's Local Program, every tenant gets a sworn notice first and a 30-day window to object at the Rent Board. Here is what the paperwork protects, and what it leaves out.
August 17, 2026
LA Pre-Approves 20 ADU Designs. Picking One Is Still on You.
Los Angeles pre-approves about 20 ADU designs from 14 firms, which can cut plan check to a single day. The free catalog picks your structure, not your lot, and the site sheets are still yours to draw and pay for.
August 16, 2026
A Silver Lake ADU Traded Its Backyard for a Roof Deck
Building a full ADU on a Silver Lake lot meant losing most of the backyard, so the architects stacked it two stories and put the lost yard on the roof. Going vertical is a second project, not a space-saving hack.
August 15, 2026
Who Pays the ADU Power Bill? In California, the Meter Decides.
Renting out a California ADU means deciding who pays for water, gas, and power. If the unit shares a meter with the house, state law forces a written arrangement, and an over-billed tenant can sue to get the money back.
August 14, 2026
Washington Caps ADU Impact Fees at Half, Scraps Transit Parking
Washington's HB 1337 bars a city from charging an ADU more than half the impact fees a main house pays, and forbids off-street parking rules within a half-mile of major transit. Here is what it saves you.
August 13, 2026
California Made Every City Pre-Approve ADU Plans. Check Yours.
A 2023 state law ordered every California city to pre-approve ADU plans and post them online, promising a 30-day permit. A year on, one city posts 37 designs while another just let its catalog expire.
August 12, 2026
This Venice ADU Is 13 Feet Wide and an Inch From the Neighbor
A Venice lot already held a bungalow, a duplex, and a pool. Sharif, Lynch threaded a fourth home into the gap: 1,169 square feet, 13 feet wide, one inch off the neighbor, and built straight up.
August 11, 2026
Your Oregon HOA Cannot Ban Your ADU Anymore. Starting 2027.
A 2025 Oregon law voids the deed and homeowners association covenants that quietly ban backyard homes, and it reaches even the decades-old ones. The catch: the ban does not lift until January 1, 2027.
August 10, 2026
Washington Capped Rent at 9.683%. New ADUs Are Exempt for 12 Years.
Washington's new 9.683 percent rent cap made headlines, but the state exempts any home built in the last 12 years, so most newly built ADUs are not covered. Here is how a renter can check before signing.
August 9, 2026
San Diego Capped Its ADU Bonus. A 136-Unit Project Shrank to 125.
San Diego's ADU bonus once let a developer stack 136 units on two Pacific Beach lots. After a court injunction and a citywide cap, the project shrank to 125, and the neighbors are still suing.
August 8, 2026
Your Brooklyn Garden Apartment Needs 7 Feet Before It Needs a Kitchen
In New York, a cellar can never be legally rented and a basement only qualifies at a 7-foot ceiling. Here is how to plan a Brooklyn garden-apartment ADU the code will sign off on, and where the money really goes.
August 7, 2026
A Castro Garage Holds 8 Cars. The Plan Is 3 Two-Bedroom Homes.
Plans filed for a 12-unit building at 3571 16th Street would swap eight covered parking spaces for three two-bedroom ADUs, no replacement parking required, all of it riding on one San Francisco ordinance.
August 6, 2026
Portland Waived SDCs for New Housing. Your ADU Didn't Make the List.
Portland waived development fees on most new housing through 2028, worth tens of thousands a unit. ADUs are cut out, and still run on an older waiver that swaps those fees for a 10-year ban on short-term rentals.
August 5, 2026
Does Your California ADU Need a Soils Report? The Slope Decides
Most flat-lot California ADUs skip the geotechnical soils report entirely. Put that same unit on a slope or a mapped seismic hazard zone, and the ground owes the city a report before your plans mean a thing.
August 4, 2026
An Architect Built His Mother a Backyard Home. It's 265 Square Feet.
An architect built his 82-year-old mother a 265-square-foot house in his sister's Oakland backyard, and the hardest part was not the permit or the price. It was deciding what fits when every object is a choice.
August 3, 2026
Your LA ADU's Best Room Is the Yard. The Code Gives You 4 Feet.
On a Los Angeles lot, the yard is the room you can actually afford to add. State law caps the side and rear setback at four feet, the Valley sun does the rest, and a low deck costs a fraction of conditioned space.
August 2, 2026
Your LA ADU Skips Impact Fees at 750 Feet. School Fees Start at 500.
On August 11, Los Angeles Unified raises its school developer fee to $5.38 a square foot. A state law from January already decides whether your ADU owes a cent of it, and the answer turns on 500 square feet.
August 1, 2026
In San Diego, a Pre-Approved ADU Plan Buys a 30-Day Clock
San Diego has to rule on a detached ADU built from a pre-approved plan within 30 days, but the clock only holds if you leave the drawings alone. Here is how the city's accepted-plan rosters really work.
July 31, 2026
Renting a Portland ADU? The 9.5% Rent Cap Often Skips You
Oregon caps 2026 rent increases at 9.5 percent, but the law exempts any home whose certificate of occupancy is under 15 years old. Most Portland ADUs are that new, leaving their renters no ceiling at all.
July 30, 2026
Rural Washington Can Now Add an ADU. If the County Opts In.
Washington HB 1345 lets counties allow a detached cottage on rural land outside the urban growth boundary, the first crack in a rule that kept ADUs urban. The catch: your county has to opt in first.
July 29, 2026
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