Blog: A chance to support more ADUs in MoCo
By Brandi Panbach
Montgomery for All Communications Chair
While Montgomery County has technically allowed accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for decades, a series of reforms since 2019 have chipped away at prohibitive requirements to make these homes easier and less costly to build and rent.
In July 2019, the council passed ZTA 19-01, which removed the one acre minimum lot size for building detached ADUs effectively legalizing them on most single family lots. From 2019 through 2025, 222 ADUs have been permitted in the county.
In 2025, Maryland's legislature passed statewide ADU legislation (HB 1466/SB 891) which did the following:
ADUs must be allowed on any qualifying lot with a single-family detached home
No minimum lot size is required for the primary house
ADUs can be up to 75% the size of the primary dwelling
ADUs don’t count toward the density limits in zoning
Required setbacks for ADUs cannot exceed existing accessory structure setback requirements
This is where things got interesting. Montgomery County currently has a cap of 1,200 square feet for ADUs, and this conflicts with the up to 75% allowance of the size of the primary house from the state law.
In April, Council President Natali Fani-González introduced ZTA 26-06 at the request of the Planning Board to bring the county ADU laws into compliance with the new state law. The Council approved this bill on September 15, 2026, and the changes will take effect on October 5.
Also on September 15, Councilmember Andrew Friedson and Council President Natali Fani-González introduced Bill 41-26. This bill makes additional changes to encourage ADU construction, and allow renters expanded and more affordable access to live in an ADU.
Under current Montgomery County law, obtaining an ADU rental license generally requires the owner to live in either the main house or the ADU as their primary residence. This bill would eliminate that requirement.
Second, the bill would establish fee waivers for affordable ADUs. An ADU owner who enters into an agreement with the county’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) to rent the ADU at an affordable rate to households earning 65% or less of Area Median Income (AMI) for at least 10 consecutive years would have the following fees waived:
Building-permit-related fees
DHCA annual rental-license fee
Certain other application fees
This bill could have a meaningful impact on supporting ADU production in the county and creating more homes.
You have an opportunity to testify on October 6, 2026 to make more homes a reality. Read the staff report on Bill 41-26 here, then sign up to testify, submit written comments, or email your comments to the Council!
