Do I Have to Live on the Property to Have an ADU?

This one deserves a careful answer, because the headline version ("Colorado banned owner-occupancy requirements!") is only half the story in Colorado Springs.

The ongoing rule: there is none. Colorado's ADU law (HB24-1152) prohibits cities from imposing owner-occupancy mandates, and Ordinance #25-45 imposes none. Once your ADU exists, no rule requires you to keep living in either unit; you could later move away and rent both.

The permitting-time rule: this is the half people miss. The city's ADU permit packet includes an Owner Residency Determination Affidavit, a notarized document in which the owner affirms they currently reside in the principal residence at the time of permitting. It is required for every ADU citywide, and City Planning can withhold the building permit or certificate of occupancy without it. The practical consequence: an investor who owns a tenant-occupied rental house and wants to add an ADU cannot truthfully sign that affidavit. If that describes your situation, call the city's Development Review Enterprise (719-385-5982) and ask how the affidavit applies before spending on design.

The same packet contains a second document worth knowing about: a restrictive covenant, recorded with the El Paso County Clerk, in which the owner agrees the ADU will not be owned or sold separately from the main house. It runs with the land and binds future buyers, which is also how prospective purchasers learn the property's ADU obligations.

What happens when you sell: the affidavit is a time-of-permitting document, not something a buyer re-signs, but the recorded covenant follows the property to every future owner, and the affidavit itself commits the owner to informing prospective purchasers about the ADU rules. So a house with a permitted ADU trades with its obligations visible in the county records, which is good news for buyers and sellers alike: the unit's legal status is documented rather than folklore.

Related rules that shape the rental plan: the ADU cannot be a short-term rental (the Airbnb question), and long-term rental economics are covered honestly in the cost guide. The full document list and permitting sequence are in the permit walkthrough.