Mailing address for nonconforming guest house?

[Nate Wiger]

Hi all, I'm considering buying a SFR with a guest house out back that is currently used by the owner's son. Owner and son moving out after sale. It's not an official ADU/JADU so due to San Diego rules, it doesn't qualify for its own address. I don't want to convert it to an ADU because I actually want to add an ADU + JADU for a total of 4 units, then rent all 4 out.

I've seen units around town that seem to be flying under the radar with addresses like "1/2" or "#A" which are not technically valid in this area of San Diego. It seems like the mail deliveryman learns that "#A" is the back unit and starts dropping off mail there.

Has anyone else run into this? I don't see a path to an official address (guest quarters are not eligible for separate addresses in SD) so looking for creative solutions. Thanks.

[Dan H.]

You can have a central/common mailbox used by the mailman and separate tenant mailboxes for each tenant.   The tenant that gets the mail out of the common mailbox distributes the mail that is not theirs to the tenant mailbox.   

The new ADU regulation (start 2023) that indicates they cannot withhold the ADU authorization to force you to address issues unrelated to the ADU, do you know if this covers a non-conforming unit?

Good luck