Governor Josh Stein signed the Regulatory Reform Act of 2026 this August, and one of its headline provisions requires North Carolina cities with more than 50,000 residents to allow at least one accessory dwelling unit on single-family lots. If you've been reading the coverage, it sounds like a breakthrough for backyard cottages, garage apartments, and in-law suites across the state.
In Greensboro, it's not new. The city council voted unanimously to allow exactly this back in April 2024, two years before Raleigh made it mandatory statewide. That timing gap matters less than what both laws, the 2024 city ordinance and the 2026 state law, left standing when they were written: private restrictive covenants. If you're evaluating a Greensboro property for a rental unit, an aging parent's suite, or space for an adult child, the question that actually determines your answer was never the zoning code. It's whether your specific subdivision's recorded declaration says no.
The Vote That Predated the Mandate
Greensboro's City Council approved its accessory dwelling unit amendment on April 16, 2024, and the changes were substantial. Before that vote, an ADU had to be at least 400 square feet and couldn't exceed 30 percent of the primary home's floor area. The council removed the minimum entirely and raised the ceiling to 50 percent of the primary dwelling's size. The owner-occupancy requirement, which had forced a homeowner to live in either the main house or the accessory unit, was eliminated. Setback rules for ADUs also shifted from the stricter principal-building standard to the more permissive accessory-structure standard, the same rules that already applied to sheds and detached garages.
Dan Curry, a member of the Greensboro Housing Coalition, spoke in support of the amendment at the council meeting, framing it as a tool for housing an aging population. The vote was unanimous. It was also, as it turns out, ahead of a curve that most of the state wouldn't reach until this year.
What Raleigh Just Required, Two Years Later
The Regulatory Reform Act, Senate Bill 445, was sponsored by Sen. Steve Jarvis of Davidson County. It passed the Senate unanimously and cleared the House 82-28 before Governor Stein signed it in August 2026. The core housing provision requires non-coastal cities over 50,000 residents to allow at least one ADU by right on eligible single-family lots, and cities have until July 2027 to update their local development rules.
Line that requirement up against what Greensboro already did in 2024 and the overlap is hard to miss. The city's ordinance already permits ADUs in every residential district as an accessory use, already dropped the owner-occupancy mandate the new law also targets, and already allows long-term rental of the primary home and the ADU to separate households. Greensboro built the floor two years before the state made it mandatory.
There's one place where the comparison gets interesting rather than tidy. The state law bars local governments from capping ADU size below 800 square feet. Greensboro's cap isn't a flat number, it's 50 percent of the primary dwelling's floor area. On a 3,000-square-foot house, that's 1,500 square feet, well above the floor. On a 1,200-square-foot starter home, 50 percent works out to 600 square feet, below the state's 800-square-foot line. Whether that combination creates friction on smaller, older Greensboro lots is a question the city hasn't publicly addressed yet, and it's worth watching if you're pricing an ADU on a modest existing home rather than a larger one.
Here's how the rules actually line up:
| Requirement | Greensboro before April 2024 | Greensboro since April 2024 | NC state floor (SB 445, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupancy | Required in ADU or primary home | Not required | Cannot ban long-term rental of primary or ADU to separate households |
| Minimum ADU size | 400 sq ft | None | Not addressed in reporting on the act |
| Maximum ADU size | 30% of primary dwelling | 50% of primary dwelling | Cannot be capped below 800 sq ft |
| Utility hookup | Not addressed in reporting | Not addressed in reporting | Cannot block ADU utility connection if capacity exists |
The Clause Both Laws Leave Alone
Neither the 2024 city ordinance nor the 2026 state law touches private restrictive covenants. Legislative summaries of the new act are explicit that it does not apply to the validity or enforceability of private covenants or other contractual agreements among property owners related to dwelling type restrictions. Properties in historic preservation districts, properties designated as National Historic Landmarks, and ADUs that aren't connected to water and sewer service are excluded as well.
That carve-out exists because covenants are a different legal instrument than zoning. Zoning is public law, set by a city council and enforceable by the city. Covenants are private contracts, recorded against a specific subdivision by its original developer and enforced by a homeowners association, not the city planning department. Greensboro's own planning department requires new subdivisions to submit their recorded Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions before building permits are issued, but the city reviews those documents for administrative completeness, not for whether they're more restrictive than city zoning allows. A subdivision's declaration can absolutely be stricter than the LDO, and neither the 2024 ordinance nor the 2026 state law changes that.
This is common in Piedmont subdivisions platted decades ago, when developers routinely recorded language limiting a lot to a single detached dwelling. Those clauses don't expire just because a city council or the General Assembly updates the zoning code around them. A law firm that regularly advises North Carolina community associations put it directly: municipalities can keep loosening their ordinances, but planned communities retain control through their recorded declarations, as long as those declarations don't run afoul of other state or federal law.
What to Actually Check Before You Assume Yes
If you're looking at a Greensboro property with an ADU in mind, whether for rental income, a place for a parent, or a home base for an adult child, the zoning question is largely settled. The covenant question isn't, and it's the one that requires actual homework rather than a quick look at a zoning map.
Pull the recorded declaration for the subdivision from the Guilford County Register of Deeds before you get attached to a floor plan. Look specifically for language about accessory structures, secondary dwellings, or rental restrictions, not just architectural review requirements. Note the age of the declaration. Older covenants can lose enforceability over time under North Carolina's covenant renewal statutes if they haven't been formally renewed, though that's a title question worth running past an attorney rather than assuming on your own. And confirm the property isn't inside one of the exclusions both laws carry: a locally designated historic district, a National Historic Landmark, or a lot without water and sewer service, since an ADU there falls outside the protections either law provides.
None of this shows up on a listing sheet. It shows up in a deed book.
FAQ
Does Greensboro's 2024 ordinance mean every lot in the city can add an ADU? Zoning allows ADUs in every residential district, but a subdivision's recorded covenants can still prohibit one on a specific lot, and properties in historic districts or without water and sewer service sit outside what either the city or state rule protects.
When do other Triad cities have to comply with the new state law? Cities that cross the 50,000-resident threshold have until July 2027 to update their local development rules. Greensboro's 2024 ordinance already covers the core requirements, including no owner-occupancy mandate and no ban on renting the ADU separately.
Can a Greensboro ADU be rented separately from the main house? Yes. The 2024 city amendment removed the owner-occupancy requirement, and the 2026 state law separately prohibits local governments from banning long-term rental of the primary home or the ADU to different households.
If you're weighing a Greensboro property for its multigenerational or income-unit potential, the covenant research is exactly the kind of due diligence worth doing before you write an offer, not after. Kathy Haines has spent years working these Guilford County subdivisions and can help you find out what a specific declaration actually allows. Schedule a Consultation to start with the right questions.
