Glendale ADU Rules in 2026: What Buyers Should Verify
October 1, 2026
October 1, 2026
"We can file it under the 'I fought the law, and the law won' folder."
As the Glendale News-Press reported, Glendale City Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian made that remark at a September 30, 2025 council meeting, as the city weighed its response to HCD's Notice of Violation. The California Department of Housing and Community Development had just notified the city, again, that its accessory dwelling unit ordinance did not comply with state law, this time through a follow-up Notice of Violation. Three days later the city signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to a fact that matters more to anyone shopping a Glendale lot for ADU potential than almost anything else in the zoning code: until the city adopts an ordinance HCD actually approves, Glendale has to process ADU applications under state law, not its own.
That distinction sounds like a technicality. It isn't. It's the difference between a lot that can support a second unit above the garage and one that can't, and it's currently invisible to anyone who just reads the Glendale Municipal Code and takes it at face value.
Glendale's ADU rules live in Municipal Code section 30.34.080, most recently amended by Ordinance 6035 on December 3, 2024. That amendment cleaned up most of what HCD had flagged as noncompliant, but it left two restrictions standing: a ban on building an ADU above a detached garage, and a ban on a detached ADU when the lot already has an "accessory living quarters," meaning something like an existing guest house or pool house. Read the code cold, or ask a contractor who's working from an older version of it, and both of those restrictions look settled and enforceable.
They aren't. HCD's own findings say both provisions conflict with state ADU law and are void under Government Code section 66316, which means the city has no legal authority to deny an application on those grounds right now.
The path to that MOU took three years and several rounds of the state telling Glendale the same thing in increasingly formal language.
One Glendale resident's experience runs straight through that timeline. Alex Khatchaturian told the Glendale News-Press he'd been trying since 2019 to build an ADU above a detached garage for his mother-in-law, only to watch the city adopt an ordinance in December 2020 that specifically prohibited it, citing privacy concerns. Khatchaturian is the one who contacted HCD and got the state to open its review of Glendale's ordinance in the first place. He called the eventual MOU "a major turnaround with real implications for homeowners, builders, and housing affordability in Glendale."
The MOU isn't a formality. It sets deadlines. Glendale had to submit a draft corrective ordinance to HCD no later than January 15, 2026, and get that ordinance introduced at a city council meeting no later than March 31, 2026. The corresponding zoning code amendment, tracked as case PZC-0015-2025, went before the Planning Commission on February 4, 2026, for a recommendation to the council.
As of late September 2026, the city's own ADU page still posts the October 2025 MOU statement rather than a notice that a new, compliant ordinance has taken effect. That puts the process roughly six months past the MOU's March 31, 2026 council-introduction deadline, and the two restrictions that HCD says are void are still sitting in the printed code, unenforceable in practice but not yet formally removed. If you're relying on a plan checker, a contractor's boilerplate guide, or a quick read of the municipal code to tell you what's actually buildable on a Glendale lot right now, you're working from the wrong document.
Under the MOU, Glendale is required to evaluate applications using state ADU law wherever its own ordinance is more restrictive. In practice, that means a few things are approvable right now that the printed code says aren't:
None of this is guaranteed to be smooth in practice. If a plan checker cites the old restriction, the applicant's leverage is the MOU itself, not a general appeal to fairness. Cite the October 3, 2025 agreement by name and date.
State law's protection isn't unconditional. ADU Zoning says an ADU of 800 square feet or less is exempt from the underlying zone's floor area ratio and lot coverage standards. On a tight, dense lot, that FAR ceiling can be the real limit on what gets built, regardless of what state law technically allows.
This is where lot type inside Glendale starts to matter more than the citywide median anyone quotes. As of mid-2026, average home values in the flatter, denser 91204 zip code sit in the mid-$700,000s, while the hillside 91208 zip code averages north of $1.5 million. That gap isn't just about finish level. Smaller flat-lot parcels are more likely to be practically capped at the state-protected 800 square foot footprint regardless of what the zoning code technically permits.
One more layer applies to older homes specifically. Glendale's own ADU guidance states that on historic properties, any exterior change made to add an ADU can't be visible from the public street and can't alter a defining historic feature unless doing so is the only way to fit the unit at all. That's a design constraint, not a size one, but it changes what a detached unit can look like on a historic-district lot even when the size and placement otherwise pencil.
If a Glendale property's value case depends on adding a second unit, a few steps are worth taking before that contingency goes into an offer:
Does this mean any Glendale garage can become a two-story ADU right away? Not automatically. State law removes the city's ability to deny the application on the grounds Glendale's old ordinance cited, but the project still has to meet height, setback, and fire-zone standards that apply everywhere in the city.
Will Glendale's rules get stricter once the council finally adopts a compliant ordinance? Not below the state floor. Government Code section 66325 means any local ordinance that conflicts with state ADU law is superseded by it, so whatever Glendale eventually adopts has to preserve the allowances HCD has already required. What could change is added conditions layered on top, which is exactly the kind of detail worth checking with Planning before you finalize a purchase built around ADU income.
Where does this leave a buyer weighing a Glendale ADU project against one in a neighboring city? It puts a premium on verifying current status rather than trusting a static guide. Glendale's situation is unusually well documented because of the HCD enforcement history, but the underlying lesson, that a printed local ordinance and the rule actually being enforced can diverge, is worth checking anywhere an ADU is part of the purchase decision.
An ADU-enabled Glendale lot is still a real opportunity, but the rules governing it are moving faster than most guides can keep up with. If you're weighing a purchase where a second unit is part of the math, Petro Real Estate Group can help you verify where a specific property actually stands before you write the offer.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
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