Coronado's ADU Code Set a 6-Month Rental Floor. HCD Says 30 Days.

You own a place in Coronado, you've built the ADU out back — or you're about to — and you want the freedom to rent it the way that fits your life. A three-month lease for a traveling nurse. Month-to-month while your kid figures out grad school. A tenant who signs for the season. Then you read the city's ADU code and hit the wall: junior and accessory dwelling units "shall only be used for rentals of terms of six consecutive months or more."

Here's the thing: HCD says that six-month floor is not something Coronado is allowed to impose.

What the ordinance says, and what HCD found

On December 10, 2025, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) reviewed Coronado's ADU Ordinance No. 2024-02 and sent the city written findings. HCD found the ordinance out of step with State ADU Law (Gov. Code §§ 66310–66342) in 31 separately numbered respects. Finding 11 is the one that hits renters.

HCD quoted the ordinance's own language:

"Junior and accessory dwelling units shall only be used for rentals of terms of six consecutive months or more."

Then it laid the statute next to it. Under Government Code § 66315, a local agency "may require that the property may be used for rentals of terms 30 days or longer" — and no more. For ADUs approved under § 66323, and for JADUs, state law goes the other direction: it requires the city to bar rentals of 30 days or fewer. HCD's bright line:

"While State ADU Law authorizes, and for certain units requires, local agencies to prohibit short-term rentals, it does not permit local agencies to impose a minimum rental term longer than 30 days."

In plain terms: a city can stop you from running your ADU as a hotel-style short-term rental. It cannot tell you the shortest lease you may sign has to be six months. Any floor past 30 days is what HCD says Coronado is not allowed to set.

Verified against HCD's Ordinance Findings Letter to the City of Coronado (ADU Ordinance No. 2024-02), dated December 10, 2025.

Two things the finding is careful about

You still don't have to rent at all. HCD notes that State ADU Law "does not require ADUs or JADUs to be rented" — the 30-day rule only matters if you choose to rent.

And you can still pick a longer lease yourself. The limit is on the city, not on you. HCD says so in a footnote: nothing in the finding "diminishes the property owner's discretion to contract for a specific minimum rental term of longer than 30 days, if desired." Want a one-year lease? Fine. The point, in HCD's reading, is that a six-month minimum can't be written into the code as a condition of your permit.

HCD directed the city to fix it — to "amend the Ordinance to reflect a property owner's discretion to rent an ADU or JADU with only the restriction of a 30-day minimum rental term."

Why 31 findings matters for you

The rental floor isn't a one-off. The same six-month language shows up again in Finding 15, tucked into the JADU deed restriction the ordinance demands. And the letter runs from statutory cross-references that were repealed, to floor-area caps state law doesn't allow on certain units, to a subjective "same architectural style" design rule, to a flat ban on selling an ADU separately. Coronado — a city HCD notes is entirely inside the coastal zone — packed more than two dozen barriers into one ordinance. If you're getting held up on something, there's a real chance the provision blocking you is on HCD's list.

What this means for your project

Read this part carefully: an HCD findings letter is HCD's enforcement position, not a court ruling and not automatically the last word. The city has two options — amend the ordinance, or adopt it unchanged with findings explaining why it believes the ordinance complies. HCD's letter warns that if Coronado does neither, HCD may notify the California Attorney General that the city is in violation of State ADU Law.

So the six-month minimum may still be sitting in the printed code while this plays out. That doesn't make it enforceable against your project — but it doesn't make it safe to ignore, either. This isn't legal advice; before you rely on any of it, verify the current ordinance status with Coronado's planning department or your own counsel. HCD reads the statute the same way statewide, though: a city's rental floor stops at 30 days.

What CrossBeam does with it

When the letter lands on your desk, CrossBeam turns it around the same day: what each item is actually asking, the code or law behind it, and a written response you can hand to your team or your attorney — the back-and-forth that used to eat weeks, done in a couple of hours.