The Sunnyvale City Council recently voted to allow more residential lots in the city to add accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as granny units, to their property. The threshold has been increased to 8,000 square feet in R-1 zoning districts, and 6,000 square feet in R-0. The catch is that homeowners will have to commit to living on the property permanently.

According to a Mercury News report, people who spoke at the council meeting were in favor of these more relaxed rules as granny units are a way to boost housing opportunities without a huge investment.

In fact, nearly every person who spoke at the meeting favored relaxing the rules, many of whom touted granny units as a way to boost real estate stock in the city.

With these relaxed regulations, roughly 69 percent of R-0 lots and 72 percent of R-1 lots can build ADUs, in comparison to just seven percent and 44 percent, respectively, under the old regulations.

In addition to this change, the city altered a 20-year deed restriction that was once necessary to get a permit for constructing an ADU. The prior restriction required the owner to reside on the property as long as a unit was being rented out to a tenant. If the property was sold, the restriction carried over to the buyers for the rest of the 20-year term.

The new deed restriction requires that the property be occupied by the owner, as long as the ADU or main house is rented out. Homeowners must agree to this before constructing an ADU on their property.