ADU in Arvada - owner required to live on-site

[Lauren Sherer]

I'm considering building an ADU in my backyard for rental income but just found out the city of arvada (in colorado) would require the owner to live on site, either in the primary residence or in the ADU if an ADU was built on the property. I was curious if anyone has been able to find a legit way to get around this rule so that the owner isn't required to live on-site forever.

My initial goal was to airbnb the primary residence (its allowed in arvada even when owner does not live on site) when we move out and turn the ADU into a MTR/LTR or (STR potentially - would need to do more research on whether arvada would allow two STR's on the same property).

My long term goal is to continue buying real estate in Colorado, live at the property for at least a year to get the 30 year fixed loan and turn them into rentals when the time is right. I don't want to feel 'stuck' at this property in Arvada and it isn't necessarily somewhere my partner and I want to live long term.

Curious if anyone has any suggestions

[Brittany Guimond]

Hi @Lauren Sherer! What a great idea. I also own a property in Arvada that I LTR, and once considered converting a shed on the property into an ADU. I just peeked at the municode for ADUs and found the attached rules, see #2. I'm interpreting this as you have to be there for 2 years before you can move on, but not certain. These rules/regs are always changing, and I've always had luck speaking with a human at the planning dept. Here's their number, I recommend giving them a call to chat through this rule to understand what it means — 720-898-7435.