What AB 670 Does.
Invalidates any deed restriction, covenant, or similar HOA rule that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction of ADUs or JADUs on lots zoned for single-family residential use. The bill ensures that homeowners' associations cannot impose blanket bans on ADU development, though HOAs may still apply reasonable architectural and design standards.
What It Means For You.
If you live in an HOA community, your HOA cannot prohibit you from adding an ADU. Any covenant or rule that tries is void, and unreasonable restrictions that gut the right are unenforceable.
The Official Summary.
Below is the Legislative Counsel's Digest, the official plain-language summary that accompanies every California bill.
The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a local agency to provide for the creation of accessory dwelling units in single-family and multifamily residential zones by ordinance, and sets forth standards the ordinance is required to impose with respect to certain matters, including, among others, maximum unit size, parking, and height standards. Existing law authorizes a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of junior accessory dwelling units, as defined, in single-family residential zones and requires the ordinance to include, among other things, standards for the creation of a junior accessory dwelling unit, required deed restrictions, and occupancy requirements.
Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, governs the management and operation of common interest developments. Existing law prohibits the governing document of a common interest development from prohibiting the rental or leasing of any separate interest in the common interest development, unless that governing document was effective prior to the date the owner acquired title to their separate interest.
This bill would make void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in a planned development, and any provision of a governing document, that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on a lot zoned for single-family residential use that meets the above-described minimum standards established for those units. However, the bill would permit reasonable restrictions that do not unreasonably increase the cost to construct, effectively prohibit the construction of, or extinguish the ability to otherwise construct, an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit consistent with those aforementioned minimum standards provisions.