Building an ADU in Pasadena. Rules, costs, timeline.
Pasadena rewrote its ADU ordinance in January 2026. Here is what the new rules actually allow on your lot, and what a build costs in 2026.
What you can build — at a glance
Reviewed by CALI ADU’s ADU specialists · August 2026
- Max ADU size
- 850–1,200 sqft Detached goes to 1,200 sqft. Attached is 850 sqft for a studio or one-bedroom and 1,000 sqft with more. Conversions of existing space are unlimited.
- Detached height
- 18 ft, 2 stories 18 ft and two stories as standard, dropping to 16 ft in the Hillside Overlay and in street-visible historic districts.
- Attached height
- Up to 25 ft 25 ft and two stories, or your zone limit if that is lower.
- Side & rear setbacks
- 4 ft Four feet from the side and rear property lines. A conversion needs no setback at all, except where fire safety requires one.
- Front setback
- Only above 800 sqft The front setback applies only to new construction larger than 800 sqft. An 800 sqft ADU may sit inside the front-yard setback.
- Units per SFR lot
- 3, likely 4 Three accessory units alongside your house: one new-construction ADU, one conversion ADU and one Junior ADU. HCD’s position is that a city must allow at least one more on top.
- Parking required
- Usually none One space by default, waived by six exemptions — including any exemption ADU and any site within a half-mile of transit, which covers most of Pasadena.
- Permit timeline
- 60 days Ministerial review with no public hearing. The clock starts once your application is complete.
- Detached Up to 1,200 sqft · 18 ft / 2 stories
- Attached 850 sqft (studio/1BR) or 1,000 sqft (2BR+) · up to 25 ft
- Garage conversion No size limit · +150 sqft allowed for ingress and egress
- Interior conversion Carved out of existing dwelling space · no size limit
- Junior ADU Up to 500 sqft inside the primary dwelling (Gov. Code § 66313(d))
Per Pasadena Municipal Code § 17.50.275, as amended by Ordinance No. 7464 (adopted January 26, 2026; effective April 18, 2026), and Gov. Code §§ 66310–66342. Cross-checked against the HCD ADU Handbook (March 2026). Municode’s codified text has not yet been updated to Ord. 7464 — figures above follow the adopted ordinance. Full citations in the sections below.
On this page
Can I build an ADU in Pasadena?
Five things to know before you start
If you read nothing else here, read these five. They are the points that change the most Pasadena projects.
| What to know | Why it matters for your project |
|---|---|
| 1. The rules changed in April 2026 | Ordinance No. 7464 took effect on April 18, 2026. It replaced limits that the state had found unlawful. Any Pasadena ADU advice written before that date — including the City’s own webpage, which still names the old ordinance — understates what you can build. |
| 2. Three units, not one | You may add a new-construction ADU, a conversion ADU, and a Junior ADU on the same lot. The old ordinance allowed one. Most homeowners still assume the limit is one, and plan far smaller than they need to. |
| 3. An 800 sqft ADU can sit in your front yard | Only new construction over 800 sqft has to meet the front-yard setback. On a deep-fronted Pasadena lot with a small back yard, that single line can be the difference between a project and no project. |
| 4. Parking is usually not required | Five exemptions apply, and the broadest is a half-mile walk to a public transit stop — which means any bus stop, not just the Metro A Line. A Junior ADU can never be required to provide parking at all. Check this before you give up floor area to a space. |
| 5. Height shapes the design, not whether you can build | Detached ADUs top out at 18 ft, so our two-story Signature plans do not permit as drawn. Two routes still work: modify a two-story plan to fit the 18 ft envelope, or go custom. Our single-story plans permit as-is, which is why they lead below. |
How many units your lot allows
Ordinance No. 7464 sets out the combination directly. All three are permitted together on a lot with an existing or proposed single-family dwelling.
| Unit | How many | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| New-construction ADU | 1 | Built new, either detached in the yard or attached to the house. |
| Conversion ADU | 1 | Carved out of existing space — a garage, a basement, an accessory structure. May be attached or detached. No size limit. |
| Junior ADU | 1 | Up to 500 sqft inside the walls of the house, including an attached garage. Needs its own exterior entrance and an efficiency kitchen. |
Owner-occupancy and who can apply
Pasadena cannot require you to live on the property to build an ADU. That is settled state law under Gov. Code § 66315, and it applies whether you occupy the house, rent it out, or hold it in a trust.
Junior ADUs work differently. Gov. Code § 66333 allows an owner-occupancy condition, but AB 1154 narrowed it sharply on January 1, 2026. It now applies only where the Junior ADU shares sanitation facilities with the main house. It also does not apply at all where the owner is a government agency, land trust, or housing organization.
That makes the shared-bathroom decision a legal one, not just a design one. Share sanitation and you take on owner-occupancy and a covenant recorded before your permit issues. Give the Junior ADU its own bathroom and you do not.
Unpermitted work already on your property
Old work does not automatically block a new ADU. Ordinance No. 7464 states that correcting nonconforming zoning conditions cannot be made a condition of ministerial approval. State law goes further: under Gov. Code § 66322(b) the City may not deny your application over unpermitted structures or code violations that do not threaten health and safety and are not affected by the ADU you are building.
A separate and much stronger rule covers an ADU or Junior ADU itself built before January 1, 2020. Under Gov. Code § 66311.7 the City may not deny a permit to legalize it over most code violations, may not penalize you for having it, and may not charge impact fees or connection charges on it. The City must also publish a substandard-conditions checklist, and you may get a confidential third-party inspection before you apply.
The one exception is where the City finds that correcting a violation is necessary for health and safety under Health and Safety Code § 17920.3.
What can you build?
Which ADU type fits your property?
Five types are permitted. This is the fastest way to work out which one your lot is actually pointing you toward.
| If this sounds like you | Start with | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| You have open back-yard space and want the most rentable unit. | Detached new construction | Up to 1,200 sqft, 18 ft, two stories. Four-foot side and rear setbacks. The strongest rent and the strongest resale. |
| Your back yard is small but the front setback is deep. | Detached, kept at 800 sqft | At 800 sqft or under it becomes an exemption ADU. The front-yard setback no longer applies, and height there is capped at 16 ft. |
| You have a detached garage you no longer need. | Garage conversion | No size limit, no setback requirement beyond fire safety, and no replacement parking. Usually the cheapest route to a permit. |
| You want to stay on one footprint and keep costs down. | Junior ADU | Up to 500 sqft inside the house. Needs a separate exterior entrance and an efficiency kitchen. It may share a bathroom with the main house — but sharing sanitation is what triggers the owner-occupancy requirement and a recorded covenant, so decide that deliberately. |
| You own an apartment building. | Multi-family conversion plus detached | Convert non-livable space into at least one unit and up to 25% of your existing count, then add up to eight detached ADUs. |
Size limits
Pasadena separates “exemption” ADUs from everything else. An exemption ADU is one the City must allow under state law, so it skips the underlying zone’s floor-area, lot- coverage, and setback rules. Anything larger is a non-exemption ADU and has to meet those standards.
| Unit | Maximum size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Detached, new construction | 1,200 sqft | 1,000 sqft in Hillside Overlay Districts (HD-1 properties excepted). 800 sqft, attached or detached, where the street serving the property is 26 ft wide or narrower. |
| Attached, new construction | 850 sqft studio or 1BR · 1,000 sqft 2BR+. | Matches the state floor at Gov. Code § 66321(b)(2). |
| Exemption ADU, new construction | 800 sqft | Skips zone floor-area and coverage limits. Four-foot side and rear setbacks. |
| Conversion, attached or detached | No limit | Plus up to 150 sqft of expansion, for ingress and egress only. |
| Junior ADU | 500 sqft | Inside the primary dwelling. State cap at Gov. Code § 66313(d). |
| Any ADU | Minimum 150 sqft | The City may not bar an efficiency unit (Gov. Code § 66321(b)(1)). |
Height
A detached ADU may be 18 feet and two stories on a standard Pasadena lot. Three situations drop that to 16 feet: a Hillside Overlay District, a Landmark or Historic District where the unit is visible from the street, and an exemption ADU placed in the front-yard setback.
Two conditions raise it straight back to 18 feet, even in those three situations. Your site already has a multi-story building on it, or your lot is within a half-mile walk of a Major Transit Stop or High Quality Transit Corridor. Near transit you may add two feet on top of that to match your home’s roof pitch — so 20 feet, not 16.
Attached ADUs are allowed up to 25 feet and two stories, or the underlying zone limit if that is lower.
One detail that decides close cases: the ordinance lets you choose the measurement method. Height may be measured under PMC § 17.40.060 or the California Building Code, whichever you prefer. The same applicant’s choice applies to floor area. If your design sits near 16, 18, 800 or 1,200, that clause is worth reading closely.
Setbacks
Side and rear setbacks are four feet for new construction and for expansions to conversions. Conversions themselves need no setback at all, beyond what fire safety requires. That also covers demolishing a structure and rebuilding in the same footprint at the same dimensions.
The front setback is the provision that changed. Only new construction larger than 800 square feet must meet the underlying zone’s front-yard setback. Below that threshold it does not apply.
Apartment properties
Multi-family lots get their own track, and it is generous. You may convert space that is not currently livable — storage rooms, boiler rooms, passageways, attics, basements, garages — into at least one ADU, and up to 25 percent of the units already in the building.
Separately, you may build up to eight detached ADUs on a lot with an existing multi-family building. That number cannot exceed the units already there. A proposed multi-family building allows two. Detached units on these lots take four-foot setbacks and a 16-foot height limit, rising to 18 feet if the building is multi-story or the lot is near transit — plus two more feet near transit to match the primary building’s roof pitch.
Details that decide designs
Four provisions catch people late, when the drawings are already done. A new non-exemption ADU needs six feet of separation, eave to eave, from any other structure on the site. Entrances and exterior staircases for attached non-exemption ADUs must not be visible from the street, unless that would prevent the unit.
Anything you attach to the ADU — a garage, a covered patio, a balcony, a rooftop deck — must meet the underlying zone’s standards. And your ADU has to share the existing driveway; a second driveway is allowed only off an alley.
The single-story Signature ADU
Three architect-designed plans that permit as drawn inside Pasadena’s 18-foot detached envelope, at fixed design and permit pricing. If none of them suits your lot, a two-story plan can be modified to fit the height limit, or we can design a custom ADU from scratch.
What an ADU costs in Pasadena (2026)
Our plan fees are the same number on any lot, in Pasadena or anywhere else we work. Construction is separate. Once your plans are permitted you can build it yourself, bring your own licensed contractor, or use one of our vetted partners. The figures below estimate the cost to build each model with an independent licensed general contractor.
| Model | Configuration | Size | Est. cost to build |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Wilshire | Studio / 1BR | 400 sqft | $180K–$200K |
| The Sunset | 1BR/1BA | 480 sqft | $200K–$215K |
| The Westwood | 1BR/1BA | 550 sqft | $215K–$235K |
| The Laurel Canyon | 2BR/1BA | 660 sqft | $240K–$265K |
| The Melrose | 2BR/2BA | 800 sqft | $275K–$295K |
| The Lincoln | 3BR/2BA | 1,000 sqft | $325K–$350K |
If no stock plan fits your lot
Pasadena’s 18-foot detached cap, a Hillside Overlay, a narrow street, or an awkward parcel shape can all rule out a plan that would work elsewhere. Two routes stay open.
A two-story Signature plan can be modified to sit inside the height limit. Or we design a custom ADU from scratch, which runs $9,990–$19,990 for design and permit processing, bid per project. Both routes end the same way: a permitted set of plans you own.
City fees
Permit and impact fees are paid to the City and are separate from both numbers above. Confirm the current schedule with Planning before you budget — fee schedules move more often than the ordinance does, and Pasadena has adjusted its ADU fees more than once since the last code cycle.
State law caps what the City can charge. An ADU of 750 square feet of interior livable space or less is exempt from impact fees entirely, under Gov. Code § 66311.5(c)(1). Above 750 square feet, fees must be proportional to the size of your main house rather than charged as a flat per-unit amount.
Several other protections apply. A Junior ADU of 500 square feet or less is exempt from impact fees. Any ADU or JADU under 500 square feet is not subject to school impact fees (§ 66311.5(c)(3)). An ADU is not treated as a new residential use for connection or capacity charges unless it is built alongside a new house (§ 66311.5(b)).
What it returns
A Pasadena ADU is a long-term rental, not a nightly one. The ordinance requires any tenancy to run longer than 30 days for units created on or after January 1, 2017. Model your numbers on a standard lease.
For current rents, use the HUD Fair Market Rent schedule for the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale area, which is published annually and is a defensible baseline. Local listing sites will show you what comparable units in your own neighborhood are actually asking.
When an ADU isn’t the right move
We would rather you decide this before you spend anything. Four situations where the answer is often no, or not yet.
| Situation | What we would say |
|---|---|
| Your plan depends on short-term rental income. | It will not work. Pasadena requires tenancies longer than 30 days. If the numbers only clear at nightly rates, the project does not pencil here. |
| You are in a Hillside Overlay District on a narrow street. | Your detached cap may be 800 sqft and 16 ft. That is a small unit for a full build cost. A conversion of existing space usually returns more per dollar. |
| You want to sell the ADU separately later. | You cannot. Pasadena has not opted into AB 1033. Separate sale is limited to qualified nonprofits under Gov. Code § 66341. A handful of other Los Angeles County cities have opted in — if separability is the point, the city you build in matters more than the design. |
| You have an unused garage and a modest budget. | Convert it rather than building new. No size limit, no setback requirement, no replacement parking, and under Gov. Code § 66311.5(d) the City cannot make you install a separate utility connection or charge you a connection fee. Usually the cheapest permit in the city, and often the right answer even when new construction is possible. |
How long an ADU takes
The 60-day clock is stronger than most homeowners realize. It starts once your application is complete, and it covers the whole permitting agency — planning, building, fire, and utilities alike (Gov. Code § 66313(k)). Building plan check happens inside those 60 days, not after them.
It also constrains corrections. Under Gov. Code § 66317(b), a city that denies an application must return a full set of comments within the same 60 days, listing every deficiency and how to fix it. What extends your project is the design work before submittal, and your own turnaround on those comments.
| Stage | Typical duration | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Design and construction documents | 6–10 weeks | Site plan, floor plans, elevations, structural, Title 24 energy compliance. |
| Completeness determination | 15 business days | A statutory deadline (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2)). The City must tell you in writing what is missing and how to cure it. Miss the deadline and your application is deemed complete. |
| Agency review and plan check | Within 60 days | Planning, building, fire and utilities all review inside this window. A denial must arrive with a full list of every deficiency (§ 66317(b)). |
| Your response to comments | 2–6 weeks | This is your team’s time, not the City’s, and it is usually what drives the total. |
| Permit issuance | 1–2 weeks | Fees paid, permit issued, construction can begin. |
What happens if the City misses a deadline
Both clocks have teeth. If the City does not determine completeness within 15 business days, the application is deemed complete (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2)(F)). It also cannot later demand an item it left off that list.
If it does not act within 60 days of a complete application, the application is deemed approved (§ 66317(a)). And if you are found incomplete or denied, you have a statutory right of appeal to the governing body, with a written determination due within 60 business days (§ 66317(d)).
What changed in 2026
In February 2025 the California Department of Housing and Community Development reviewed Pasadena’s ADU ordinance and found it non-compliant with state law on six points. The City rewrote the section and the Council adopted it unanimously. Here is what each fix means for a homeowner.
| What the state objected to | What the rule is now |
|---|---|
| Only one “exemption ADU” per lot. | Three units: one new-construction ADU, one conversion ADU, one Junior ADU. This is the single biggest change. |
| Front-yard setback blocked an 800 sqft ADU. | The front setback applies only to new construction over 800 sqft. Smaller units may sit in it, capped at 16 ft. |
| Parking required on units that are exempt from it. | No parking for an exemption ADU, and five further exemptions besides. |
| Two-story attached ADUs described ambiguously | Stated plainly: an attached ADU “may be up to two stories in height”. |
| Missing SB 1211 and AB 2533. | Up to eight detached ADUs on existing multi-family lots. Protections for units built before 2020. |
| Citing Government Code sections repealed in 2024. | All references updated to the current §§ 66310–66342 numbering. |
Historic districts
Pasadena has a large stock of designated properties, and the rule is specific. A non-exemption ADU on an individually designated historic property, or in a Landmark or Historic District, may not be visible from the public right-of-way.
There is an exception worth knowing. That restriction does not apply if it would prevent the unit from being created at all. A visibility rule cannot be used to block an ADU outright.
Hillside Overlay Districts
Hillside properties are capped lower, with HD-1 properties excepted from the reduction. A detached new-construction ADU is limited to 1,000 square feet. Where the street serving the property is 26 feet wide or narrower, the cap falls to 800 square feet for attached and detached alike.
Height in these districts starts at 16 feet. It rises to 18 feet if your site already has a multi-story building, or if you are within a half-mile walk of a Major Transit Stop or High Quality Transit Corridor — with two more feet available near transit to match your roof pitch.
Pasadena’s $225K ADU construction loan
Pasadena is one of very few Los Angeles County cities running its own publicly funded ADU construction loan. Most builders never mention it, because it does not suit a premium design budget. For the right household it is the cheapest ADU capital in Southern California, so it is worth knowing about either way.
The Second Unit ADU Loan Program, run by the Pasadena Department of Housing, offers up to $225,000 at 1% simple interest on a three-year deferred term. Once the ADU is complete and rented to a Pasadena Housing Choice Voucher tenant for six continuous months, up to $100,000 of the principal converts to a 20-year silent third mortgage at 0%. It is funded by the state’s PLHA and CalHOME programs rather than City general funds.
The conditions are real. You commit to renting to a Housing Choice Voucher tenant for seven continuous years, record a five-year affordability covenant that survives resale, live in the main house for the life of the loan, and forgo short-term rentals entirely.
Four eligibility limits rule most projects out. The ADU is capped at 750 sqft — well below the 1,200 sqft the ordinance now allows detached. New detached units must be built from one of the City’s pre-approved catalog plans, so custom design is not eligible. Landmark and Historic Monument properties are excluded, as are some properties in Landmark and Historic Districts. Junior ADUs and condominium parcels do not qualify at all.
Short-term rental
Any ADU or Junior ADU created on or after January 1, 2017 must be rented for terms longer than 30 days. The ordinance states the rule without exceptions. If your plan depends on shorter tenancies, confirm your specific situation with Planning before you commit.
Selling the ADU separately
You cannot, unless a qualified nonprofit developed it. AB 1033 lets a city opt in to allowing ADUs to be sold as condominiums, and Pasadena has not opted in. Ordinance No. 7464 permits separate sale only under the nonprofit provision at Gov. Code § 66341.
How the permit process works
Ordinance No. 7464 assigns the decision to the Planning Director or a designee, who must approve, conditionally approve, or deny a conforming application within the limits set by Gov. Code §§ 66317, 66320 and 66335. Any associated demolition permit is decided at the same time.
Ministerial means the standards are objective. A reviewer applies the numbers in the ordinance to your drawings. Design taste, neighborhood opinion, and discretion are not part of it.
What you submit
A complete application is the single biggest factor in how long this takes. Expect a site plan, floor plans, elevations, structural drawings, and Title 24 energy documentation.
The completeness step is bounded. Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2) gives the City 15 business days to decide, in writing, with a list of what is missing and how to fix it. It cannot later demand something it left off that list. A resubmittal starts its own 15-day clock, and if the City misses either one, your application is deemed complete.
Pre-approved standard plans
Pasadena runs an ADU Standard Plans Program, but it is not currently open to most homeowners. The plans expired on December 31, 2025 because the California Building Code changed on January 1, 2026.
Since then, the program page states that the plans available are limited to residential properties red-tagged as a result of the Eaton Fire. The City says more standard plans for single-family properties citywide are coming. Check the program page before you count on it, because the City’s main ADU page still describes the catalog as open.
Pasadena ADU questions, answered
The questions Pasadena homeowners actually ask — answered against Ordinance No. 7464 and current state law.
How many ADUs can I build on a Pasadena lot?
Three, on top of the house you already have. Ordinance No. 7464 (effective April 18, 2026) allows one new-construction ADU, one conversion ADU, and one Junior ADU on a lot with a single-family dwelling. The new-construction unit may be attached or detached. The conversion unit may be attached or detached. This is a change: the previous ordinance allowed only one "exemption ADU," and HCD found that limit non-compliant with Gov. Code § 66323 in February 2025.
Did Pasadena change its ADU rules in 2026?
Yes. The City Council adopted Ordinance No. 7464 on January 26, 2026. It was published March 19, 2026 and took effect April 18, 2026. It rewrote PMC § 17.50.275 and resolved all six problems HCD identified in its February 26, 2025 letter. Note that the codified text on Municode has not caught up yet — it still shows the older Ord. 7420 version with an "Amended by Ordinance No. 7464" banner above it.
How tall can a detached ADU be in Pasadena?
18 feet and two stories on a standard lot. Three situations start at 16 feet: a Hillside Overlay District, a Landmark or Historic District where the unit is visible from the street, and an 800 sqft exemption ADU placed in the front-yard setback. Two conditions raise those back to 18 feet — your site already has a multi-story building, or you are within a half-mile walk of a Major Transit Stop or High Quality Transit Corridor. Near transit you may add a further two feet to match your home’s roof pitch, giving 20. Attached ADUs are allowed up to 25 feet and two stories, or the underlying zone limit if lower.
Does Pasadena offer a loan program to help build an ADU?
Yes. The Second Unit ADU Loan Program, run by the Pasadena Department of Housing, offers up to $225,000 at 1% simple interest on a three-year deferred term. After the ADU is rented to a Pasadena Housing Choice Voucher tenant for six continuous months, up to $100,000 converts to a 20-year silent third mortgage at 0%. The conditions are substantial: a seven-year voucher tenancy, a five-year affordability covenant that survives resale, owner-occupancy of the main house, and no short-term rentals. The ADU is capped at 750 sqft, must use a City pre-approved plan if newly detached, and Landmark and Historic Monument properties are excluded.
Does Pasadena require parking for an ADU?
Usually not. The ordinance sets a default of one space per unit on a single-family site, then exempts five situations: the unit is an exemption ADU, the site is within a half-mile walk of a public transit stop, the ADU is inside existing space including a garage, the property is in a historic district, or a car-share vehicle is within one block. Filing alongside a new single-family home application also exempts you, but only if one of those five already applies. Sites with multi-family buildings never require ADU parking, and a Junior ADU can never be required to provide parking under Gov. Code § 66334(a). State law adds one more exemption Pasadena did not list: where on-street parking permits are required but not offered to your tenant (§ 66322(a)(4)).
Do I have to replace parking if I convert my garage?
No. Ordinance No. 7464 states plainly that replacement parking is not required when a garage, carport, or surface space serving the primary dwelling is demolished or converted to build an ADU. State law says the same thing at Gov. Code § 66314(d)(11). This applies to Junior ADUs as well.
Can I build an ADU in my front yard in Pasadena?
Often yes, if it is 800 square feet or smaller. Under Ordinance No. 7464, only new-construction ADUs larger than 800 square feet must meet the front-yard setback of the underlying zone. The ordinance then sets a 16-foot height cap for exemption ADUs located in the front-yard setback, which confirms they are permitted there. The prior ordinance barred this, and HCD found that barrier non-compliant with Gov. Code § 66321(b)(3).
Do I have to live on the property to build an ADU in Pasadena?
No. Gov. Code § 66315 bars any California city from imposing an owner-occupancy requirement on an ADU. Junior ADUs are different: under Gov. Code § 66333, as narrowed by AB 1154 effective January 1, 2026, owner-occupancy may only be required where the Junior ADU shares sanitation facilities with the main house. It does not apply where the owner is a government agency, land trust, or housing organization. If your Junior ADU shares a bathroom, expect a covenant recorded before the permit issues.
Can I rent out a Pasadena ADU on Airbnb?
No. Ordinance No. 7464 requires that any rental of an ADU or Junior ADU created on or after January 1, 2017 be for a term longer than 30 days. If your budget depends on nightly or weekly income, it will not work in Pasadena. Plan for a tenancy of at least 31 days.
Can I sell my Pasadena ADU separately from the main house?
No, in almost every case. Ordinance No. 7464 permits separate sale only where the unit is developed by a qualified nonprofit corporation under Gov. Code § 66341. Pasadena has not opted into AB 1033, the law that lets a city allow ADUs to be sold as condominiums. A small number of other Los Angeles County cities have opted in, so if selling the unit separately is central to your plan, the jurisdiction matters as much as the design.
What are the rules for ADUs in Pasadena historic districts?
A non-exemption ADU in an individually designated historic property, a Landmark District, or a Historic District may not be visible from the public right-of-way. There is an important exception written into the ordinance: that rule does not apply if it would prevent the unit from being created. Height in these districts is capped at 16 feet where the unit is visible from the street.
How many ADUs can I build on a Pasadena apartment property?
Potentially many. On a lot with an existing multi-family building you may convert non-livable space — storage rooms, boiler rooms, passageways, attics, basements, garages — into at least one ADU, and up to 25 percent of the existing unit count (Gov. Code § 66323(a)(3)(B)). Separately, you may build up to eight detached ADUs, capped at the number of units already on the lot (§ 66323(a)(4)). A proposed multi-family building allows two. Detached units here take four-foot setbacks and a 16-foot height limit, rising to 18 feet if the building is multi-story or the lot is near transit, plus two more feet to match roof pitch near transit.
Can Pasadena make me fix unpermitted work before approving my ADU?
Generally no. Ordinance No. 7464 states that correcting nonconforming zoning conditions cannot be required as a condition of ministerial ADU approval, and Gov. Code § 66322(b) bars denial over unpermitted structures that do not threaten health and safety and are not affected by your build. If the unpermitted work is itself an ADU or Junior ADU built before January 1, 2020, Gov. Code § 66311.7 goes further: the City may not deny the permit over most violations, may not penalize you, and may not charge impact fees or connection charges. The exception is where correcting the violation is necessary for health and safety under Health and Safety Code § 17920.3.
Are Pasadena’s pre-approved ADU plans still available?
Not the City’s own catalog, for most homeowners. Those plans expired on December 31, 2025 because the California Building Code changed on January 1, 2026, and the program page now limits them to residential properties red-tagged as a result of the Eaton Fire. More citywide plans are promised. Two rights survive regardless: under Gov. Code § 65852.27 the City must accept plans for preapproval from any party, including you or your designer, and it must decide within 30 days an application for a detached ADU using a plan preapproved by any agency in California.
How long does it take to get an ADU permit in Pasadena?
Two statutory clocks apply. The City has 15 business days to determine whether your application is complete, and must tell you in writing what is missing — miss that and the application is deemed complete (Gov. Code § 66317(a)(2)). It then has 60 days to approve or deny, with the whole permitting agency reviewing inside that window, and any denial must arrive with a full list of deficiencies (§ 66317(b)). Plan for the overall project to run longer. Design and construction documents come first, and your own turnaround on comments is usually what drives the total. Budget six to twelve months from first drawing to permit in hand.
Official sources
Pasadena
- Ordinance No. 7464 — the operative ADU law. Adopted January 26, 2026; published March 19, 2026; effective April 18, 2026. The ADU provisions are Exhibit 10. View on Municode
- PMC § 17.50.275 — Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units. Note that the codified text shown here has not yet been updated to Ord. 7464. View on Municode
- City of Pasadena ADU page — program information and contacts. cityofpasadena.net
- ADU Standard Plans Program — current eligibility, including the Eaton Fire restriction. cityofpasadena.net
California
- Gov. Code §§ 66310–66342 — state ADU law, renumbered by SB 477 effective March 25, 2024. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- HCD ADU Handbook — the state’s official interpretive guidance. hcd.ca.gov
- HCD review letter to Pasadena, February 26, 2025 — the six findings that Ordinance No. 7464 resolved. Read the letter (PDF)
Rules change. Ordinance No. 7464 took effect in April 2026 and state ADU law is amended most Januaries. If you are reading this long after publication, confirm the current version before you commit to a design — or call us and we will confirm it for you.
Not sure what your lot
can actually support?
Get clarity before you spend anything on plans. In 15 minutes we will pull up your property, run the Ordinance 7464 numbers against your lot, check whether you are in a Hillside or Historic overlay, and give you an honest read on your options and a realistic budget — including whether an ADU is the right move at all.
15 minutes · No obligation