Building an ADU in Long Beach. Rules, costs, timeline.

What you can build in Long Beach

On a single-family lot in Long Beach you may build one ADU, one JADU, or one of each (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.A and § VI.B). On a multi-family lot the allowances are larger — up to eight detached ADUs at an existing MFD as of January 1, 2025, per state law (Gov. Code § 66323). The rules below cover the most common case: a single-family detached or attached ADU.

Size limits

A new-construction detached ADU may be up to 1,200 square feet (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.E.1.c). An attached ADU with new floor area is capped at 50% of the primary dwelling or 800 sqft, whichever is more (§ V.E.1.a). A conversion-only ADU — built entirely within an existing dwelling or detached accessory building — has no size limit beyond the existing footprint, plus up to 150 sqft of new floor area for ingress and egress (§ V.E.1.b). A JADU is 150 to 500 sqft (Gov. Code § 66313(d)); the absolute minimum for any permitted ADU is 150 sqft (Cal. Health & Safety Code § 17958.1).

Setbacks

Side and rear setbacks are 4 feet (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.E.2.b and c; matches state floor at Gov. Code § 66314(d)(7)). The rear-yard setback is measured to the centerline of the alley if the lot abuts one. Front and street-side setbacks default to the underlying zoning district’s requirement, but if compliance with the zoning-district setback would block an ADU of at least 800 sqft, the ADU may encroach into the front or street-side setback to the minimum extent feasible to make a 800-sqft ADU possible (§ V.E.2.a). That encroachment right comes from Gov. Code § 66321(b)(2) and is one of the strongest state-law protections for tight-lot Long Beach properties.

Maximum height

Detached ADUs may be up to two stories, subject to the underlying zoning district’s height limit (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.E.3.a). State law sets three guaranteed height floors that override any restrictive zoning rule (Gov. Code § 66321(b)(4)):

• 16 feet for any detached ADU on a single-family lot;
• 18 feet if the lot has an existing multi-story multi-family dwelling, the ADU is within one-half mile walking distance of public transit, on-street parking permits are required but not offered to the ADU occupants, a car-share vehicle is within one block, or the ADU permit is submitted with a permit for a new SFD or MFD; and
• +2 feet additional in the 18-foot scenarios for a roof pitch that aligns with the primary dwelling’s roof pitch (sloped roofs only).

One exception worth knowing: the PD-11 (Rancho Estates) planned development district has a more restrictive 13-foot, single-story height limit for detached ADUs (§ V.E.3.a). If your property is in Rancho Estates, the two-story Signature Homes (Fairfax, Venice, Culver) are not options.

Parking

One off-street parking space per ADU is the default requirement (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.E.4). In practice, almost no Long Beach ADU project actually has to add parking, because state law (Gov. Code § 66323) waives the requirement under any of six conditions, and almost every Long Beach property meets at least one. The city itself notes in its zoning summary: “Most locations in Long Beach are exempt from providing ADU parking per these criteria.”

The most common exemption is the half-mile transit rule: any ADU within one-half mile walking distance of public transit is exempt from parking. Long Beach’s extensive transit network — the A Line (formerly Blue Line) corridor, the Passport bus service, and most of the urban core within the half-mile catchment of multiple transit stops — means most lots qualify. Properties in a designated historic district are also exempt regardless of transit proximity, as are ADUs created by conversion of a garage or covered parking structure. JADUs require no parking under any circumstance (§ VI.E.4).

Lot coverage and FAR

The City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary does not impose a separate ADU-specific lot-coverage or floor-area-ratio limit beyond the size caps above; ADUs are subject to the underlying zoning district’s lot-coverage requirement along with the rest of the development on the parcel. State law (Gov. Code § 66321(b)(2)) explicitly protects the right to build an 800-sqft ADU regardless of local lot-coverage or open-space requirements that would otherwise block it — the same encroachment right that applies to setbacks applies here.

Owner-occupancy

Owner-occupancy is not required for an ADU at a single-family or multi-family dwelling in Long Beach (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § V.F and § VII.E). The state-law sunset on the broader owner-occupancy requirement ran through January 1, 2026, and Long Beach has not adopted any local rule to reinstate it.

JADU owner-occupancy was simplified materially on January 1, 2026 by AB 1154 (codified at Gov. Code § 66333(b)). The owner-occupancy requirement now applies only when the JADU shares sanitation facilities (a bathroom) with the primary dwelling. If your JADU has its own dedicated, separate bathroom, owner-occupancy is no longer required. If the JADU shares a bathroom with the main house, the owner must still reside in either the remaining portion of the single-family dwelling or in the JADU itself as their principal place of residence. The Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 (November 2024) predates this amendment and still describes the broader pre-2026 rule; state law preempts that older guidance.

Impact fees

ADUs under 750 sqft of livable interior space are exempt from all local impact fees, including school district fees, park-and-recreation fees, water and sewer connection fees, and any other fee normally tied to new residential construction (Gov. Code § 66318). This is a state-law protection Long Beach cannot override. ADUs over 750 sqft are subject to impact fees, but those fees must be charged proportionally to the size of the ADU relative to the primary dwelling — not at the full per-unit rate that would apply to new standalone construction.

City building-permit fees and plan-check fees are separate from impact fees and apply to ADUs at any size. For a detached new-construction ADU under 1,200 sqft, total City of Long Beach permit and plan-check fees typically run $7,500–$12,000 depending on project complexity. Those fees go directly to the city and are passed through to you at cost in a CALI ADU contract.

Permitting timeline

State law requires the City of Long Beach to act on a complete ADU or JADU permit application within 60 days of submittal (Gov. Code § 66317; City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28 § III.C). The 60-day clock starts when the city deems the application complete and pauses while the applicant responds to plan-check corrections. SB 543, effective January 1, 2026, added a separate 15-business-day completeness determination deadline: if the city does not issue an incomplete-application letter within 15 business days of submittal, the application is deemed complete by operation of law (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2)). Together these two deadlines cap the realistic in-house permit timeline at roughly 90–120 days for a clean application. Coastal Zone and historic-district projects add review steps but are still subject to the same 60-day building-permit clock.

Selling your ADU separately under AB 1033

AB 1033 (Chaptered 2023, codified at Gov. Code § 66342) gave California cities the option to allow ADU owners to sell the ADU separately from the primary dwelling — a condominium-style separate sale that has historically not been permitted for accessory units. The catch is that AB 1033 is an opt-in: a city has to adopt a local ordinance allowing separate-sale ADUs before any property in that city can use the right. Most California cities have not opted in. Of LA County cities, Santa Monica and Culver City have adopted opt-in ordinances as of 2026; most others have not.

Long Beach’s status: as of the latest official guidance reviewed for this page (City of Long Beach ADU Zoning Summary v28, November 2024), Long Beach had not adopted an AB 1033 opt-in ordinance. The zoning summary does not reference AB 1033 separate-sale rights. [CITE: needs verification — check current Long Beach AB 1033 opt-in status before contract signing; the new local ordinance projected for Summer 2025 may include opt-in provisions when adopted.]

If Long Beach adopts AB 1033 in the future, the practical effect for property owners would be the ability to subdivide the parcel into a condominium plan, file separate condominium deeds for the primary dwelling and the ADU, and sell the two units to different buyers. For the typical Long Beach homeowner whose ADU is built for family use or long-term rental income, AB 1033 is a future option to be aware of — not a current decision point. We’ll flag AB 1033 adoption status during your Backyard Review so you can factor it into your long-term plans.

Renting your Long Beach ADU

California law (Gov. Code § 66314(e)) protects your right to rent any permitted ADU for 30 days or longer regardless of HOA covenants or local rental restrictions. Short-term rentals under 30 days fall under each city’s short-term rental ordinance; in Long Beach, short-term rentals are regulated by the city’s Short-Term Rental Ordinance (LBMC Chapter 5.92), which permits STRs only in specific zones and with a registration requirement. The practical planning assumption for a Long Beach ADU is long-term rental (30 days or more) unless you specifically plan to register under the STR ordinance and your property qualifies.

Long Beach rental market data for ADU-style units in 2026 generally falls in the following ranges (one-bedroom, one-bath ADU, depending on neighborhood and finish level): $2,000–$2,800 per month in Bixby Knolls, Los Altos, and Lakewood Village; $2,400–$3,200 per month in Belmont Shore, Naples, Bluff Park, and California Heights; $2,600–$3,500 per month for ADUs within a short walk of the A Line corridor or downtown. Two-bedroom and three-bedroom Signature Homes (Laurel Canyon, Melrose, Lincoln, Fairfax, Venice, Culver) command proportionally higher rents.

Concrete example: the Westwood is a 550 sqft one-bedroom Signature Home at $259,000 all-inclusive. At the lowest typical Long Beach 1-bedroom rent of $2,000/month, the Westwood pays back its full all-in cost in roughly 13.7 years after operating expenses (property tax, insurance, maintenance reserve, and a vacancy allowance). At Belmont Shore or Naples rents of $2,400–$3,200 per month, payback drops to roughly 9–12 years. Run your specific numbers on our ADU ROI calculator — the tool takes your lot, your model, your expected rent, and your financing assumptions and returns a year-by-year cashflow plus payback projection.