ADU rules in Torrance

Detached ADUs are allowed on any residentially zoned or mixed-use lot with an existing or proposed dwelling (TMC 92.2.10(D), restated in full by Ord. No. 3954, adopted August 19, 2025 and effective September 18, 2025). Under the local standards a single-family lot gets one ADU, detached or attached, plus one JADU (Table 92.2.10-1), but the state-exempt path in 92.2.10(G)(1) and Gov. Code 66323(a) also allows a conversion ADU, a JADU and one new detached ADU of up to 800 sq ft with 4-foot side and rear setbacks, in any combination. With a proposed multifamily building up to two detached ADUs are allowed, and with an existing one as many detached ADUs as there are existing units, up to eight (92.2.10(G)(2)(B); Gov. Code 66323(a)(4)). In the Hillside Overlay and Coastal Zone a detached ADU is limited to one story and 16 feet (more where Gov. Code 66321 requires), and a Coastal Zone unit also needs a Coastal Commission permit, waiver or exemption. Section 92.2.10(D)(1) bars ADUs and JADUs on any property developed under the SB 9 section 92.29.34, which reaches further than Gov. Code 65852.21(f), under which a city may refuse ADUs only where a parcel uses both a two-unit project and an urban lot split.

Attached ADUs and conversions are allowed: an ADU may be attached to or located within the house, including an attached garage or storage area, or within an accessory structure (92.2.10(E)(5)(A)). To count as attached, the unit must share at least 25 percent of its total linear wall with the primary dwelling, and a patio cover or breezeway connection alone does not qualify (92.2.10(C)(9)). One JADU of up to 500 sq ft is allowed per single-family lot within the walls of the house or an attached garage, with at least an efficiency kitchen, exterior access, and an interior door to the house only when it shares the house's bathroom (92.2.10(E)(8)(B), (G)(1)(A)). Existing multifamily buildings may convert non-livable space such as storage rooms, attics, basements and garages into at least one ADU and up to 25 percent of the existing unit count (92.2.10(G)(2)(A); Gov. Code 66323(a)(3)). Attached ADUs may be 18 feet for one story or 25 feet for two stories, including in the Hillside Overlay, where city staff told the Planning Commission on February 18, 2026 that a two-story ADU is allowed only if attached to the house.

Section 92.2.10(E)(6)(A) caps an attached or detached ADU at 1,000 sq ft and a JADU at 500 sq ft, and converting an existing accessory structure escapes the cap if it grows by no more than 150 sq ft for ingress and egress (92.2.10(E)(6)(C)). The state-exempt new detached unit under 92.2.10(G)(1)(B) is limited to 800 sq ft with 4-foot side and rear setbacks, while units built under the local standards must also fit the zone's lot coverage, floor area ratio (counted as gross floor area) and open space limits and, if detached, a 15-foot front setback, none of which Gov. Code 66321(b)(3) allows to block an 800 sq ft unit with 4-foot side and rear setbacks. Torrance sets no percentage-of-house limit on attached units; Gov. Code 66314(d)(4) describes a 50 percent cap, but 66325(b) lets a city adopt less restrictive rules. Detached ADUs may be 18 feet for one story or 23 feet for two stories citywide but only one story and 16 feet in the Hillside Overlay and Coastal Zone, attached ADUs may be 18 feet for one story or 25 feet for two, and interior plate height is capped at 12 feet for one story and 22 feet for two (92.2.10(E)(4)). State law still guarantees a detached unit 18 feet, plus 2 feet to match the house's roof pitch, within one-half mile walking distance of a major transit stop or high-quality transit corridor (Gov. Code 66321(b)(4)(B)), and city staff told the Planning Commission on February 18, 2026 that most areas qualify.

No owner-occupancy requirement applies to ADUs: Ord. No. 3954 deleted the former rule (old 92.2.10(d)(11)) that the owner live on the lot at permit time when a lot had both an ADU and a JADU, after HCD's September 5, 2024 findings, and Gov. Code 66315 bars owner-occupancy standards for ADUs. For JADUs, the covenant clause in 92.2.10(F)(1)(C) still says a JADU is legal only while the owner occupies the house or the JADU, but Gov. Code 66333(b), as amended by AB 1154 effective January 1, 2026, requires owner occupancy only when the JADU shares sanitation facilities with the house, and never when the owner is a governmental agency, land trust or housing organization. Section 92.2.10(A)(1) (state law governs any conflict) and Gov. Code 66339.5 make the state rule control. The city's JADU covenant form (created 2022) still cites the deleted 92.2.11 (Ord. No. 3910) and the unqualified owner-occupancy clause, so its wording overstates current law for a JADU with its own bathroom.

Section 92.2.10(E)(7)(B) requires one parking space per ADU on top of the house's parking; it may be uncovered and tandem on an existing driveway, must be on the same lot, and only one curb cut is allowed per street frontage. The six state exemptions are written into 92.2.10(E)(7)(E) (Gov. Code 66322(a)), and 'public transit' includes any fixed-route bus stop (92.2.10(C)(10); Gov. Code 66313(m)), a broader test than the transit-based height allowance that city staff say most of the city meets, so the space is required mainly on lots far from bus service. No replacement parking is required when a garage, carport or parking space is converted or demolished for an ADU, or when an attached garage becomes a JADU (92.2.10(E)(7)(C)-(D)). The state-exempt units in 92.2.10(G) are approved 'notwithstanding any development standard' in the earlier subsections, and HCD's March 2026 handbook says no parking may be imposed on Gov. Code 66323 units. HCD also reads the cap in Gov. Code 66314(d)(10)(A) (one space per unit or per bedroom, whichever is less) to mean a studio needs none, which the local one-per-unit wording does not reflect.

ADUs and JADUs are approved ministerially through a building permit, without discretionary review or a hearing (92.2.10(C)(2)-(3), (C)(11)); the city's ADU page says the Building & Safety Division processes them as part of the building permit, after a recommended preliminary plan review with Planning. Gov. Code 66317 requires a completeness decision within 15 business days and a decision within 60 days of a complete application, after which the application is deemed approved; when an ADU is filed with a new house the city may hold the ADU until it acts on the house, which in the Hillside Overlay can need a discretionary Precise Plan. The ADU itself is exempt from Hillside Overlay review: the city's Coastal Zone handout and its February 2026 Hillside Overlay staff report list ADUs as building-permit-only. In the Coastal Zone the applicant must also file a California Coastal Commission permit, waiver or exemption with the building permit (92.2.10(C)(7)), because the city defers coastal permitting to the Commission, which must act within 60 days of a complete application or the permit is deemed approved (Gov. Code 66329(b)). The city is also accepting designer-owned plans for a pre-approved ADU program.

Section 92.2.10(B)(1)-(2) says an ADU or JADU 'shall not be operated as a short-term rental or rented for a period less than 30 days', state law requires rentals of state-exempt units and JADUs to run longer than 30 days (Gov. Code 66323(e), 66333(g)), and Torrance's short-term rental article defines a short term rental as 30 consecutive days or less (92.43.010(g)), so plan on terms of 31 days or more. The city's short-term rental program (TMC Division 9, Chapter 2, Article 43) allows short-term rentals in residential zones only as hosted home shares with a planning permit, business license and transient occupancy tax, and the 92.2.10 ban keeps ADUs and JADUs out of it. An ADU may be rented but not sold separately from the house (Gov. Code 66314(d)(1)) except through the qualified-nonprofit path in 66341; the codified zoning code (current through Ord. No. 3969) has no Gov. Code 66342 ADU-condominium provision, and a JADU's recorded covenant must bar separate sale and short-term rental (92.2.10(F)(1)). Leasing individual rooms rather than a whole unit falls under 92.2.6, which lets an owner or lessee living in the residence rent rooms to no more than two persons without a waiver.