ADU Pass
Highlands County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Highlands County, Florida navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 5 cities and 8 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Highlands County regulates accessory dwelling units on unincorporated parcels through the Highlands County Code of Ordinances (Chapter 12 — Land Development Regulations), administered by the Highlands County Development Services Department. Highlands is an inland, rural Central Florida county centered on Sebring (county seat), Avon Park, and Lake Placid; the Sebring International Raceway is in the county. The population skews retirement-demographic and many parcels are in platted-but-rural lake-front subdivisions. § 163.31771 FS is permissive only; Highlands's ADU rules arise entirely from local zoning, and agricultural and estate-residential districts broadly permit guest cottages as-of-right.
Code citations:
- Highlands County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 12 — Land Development Regulations
- Florida Statutes § 163.31771 — Accessory Dwelling Units
State-floor overlay: No Florida statewide ADU preemption floor exists as of April 2026. SB 48 / HB 313 (2026 session) is the active preemption bill. Highlands retains full discretion until enactment.
Adopting body: Highlands County Board of County Commissioners
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Permits for ADUs on unincorporated Highlands County parcels are issued by the Highlands County Development Services Department, which combines zoning, building, and floodplain review. Incorporated Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Placid each maintain their own permit offices. Highlands is a small-staff permitting office with relatively short review queues compared to metro Florida counties, but the office's limited capacity can produce backlogs when storm-rebuilding activity spikes.
Process overview: A Highlands County ADU permit is a combined zoning/building review: (1) zoning verification; (2) submission of site plan and construction drawings via EnerGov; (3) planning review including flood-zone and lake-setback checks; (4) building-code plan review against the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023); (5) septic review by Florida DOH in Highlands County for parcels outside central sewer (most rural-lake-front parcels are on septic); (6) issuance, inspections, CO.
Impact fees: Highlands County assesses transportation and park impact fees; impact-fee levels are comparatively low relative to coastal metro Florida counties. ADUs on existing single-family parcels face a reduced assessment. (schedule)
County assessor
The Highlands County Property Appraiser maintains parcel-level assessment records for all real property in Highlands County. ADU additions are assessed as improvements to the host parcel. Florida's Save Our Homes 3% cap applies to the primary dwelling's assessment; improvements are added at full just value in the completion year. § 193.703 FS 'granny-flat' 20% assessment reduction is especially relevant in retirement-demographic Highlands.
Assessment policy: Permit data flows from Development Services to the Property Appraiser. Homestead remains on the primary dwelling; ADUs do not carry independent homestead unless owner-occupied.
County overlays (4)
Highlands County administers flood, wetland, and ridge/lake-protection overlays. The county sits on the Lake Wales Ridge (one of Florida's oldest and highest upland features) with many small lakes; AE-zone flood mapping is scattered around lake shorelines. Unlike coastal Florida, Highlands has no hurricane-storm-surge or CCCL exposure, but Hurricane Ian (2022) produced significant inland flood damage across rural Highlands.
- FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) — AE zones occur around the county's numerous small lakes (Lake Istokpoga, Lake Jackson, Lake June in Winter, Red Beach Lake, others) and along the Kissimmee River. Hurricane Ian (2022) produced extensive inland AE-zone flooding that exposed undermapped parcels to floodwater damage.
- Lake Wales Ridge Ecosystem / Scrub Habitat — Portions of Highlands lie within the Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem, home to federally-listed species (Florida scrub-jay, red-cockaded woodpecker, multiple listed plants). Parcels within designated critical-habitat areas face enhanced USFWS consultation for development. An ADU on a scrub-habitat parcel may trigger federal review.
- South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Wellhead Protection — Highlands parcels within mapped wellhead-protection zones face enhanced septic-siting review.
- Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) — Highlands's pine-flatwood and scrub ecosystems produce meaningful WUI exposure. The 2023 state WUI code adoption is comparatively fresh and enforcement intensity is still maturing.
Known county issues (1)
- policy-review — Pending Florida SB 48 / HB 313 (2026 session) — if enacted, Highlands County and its three incorporated municipalities face a December 1, 2026 local ordinance compliance deadline for statewide by-right ADU allowance in single-family zones. Refresh within 30 days of enactment.
Florida state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Florida does NOT currently have a statewide ADU preemption law in effect. Florida Statutes § 163.31771 (enacted 2004, last amended 2020) is permissive — it authorizes local governments to adopt ADU ordinances but does not require them to. ADU rules are therefore set municipality-by-municipality: Miami-Dade, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and a growing set of Florida cities have their own ordinances; many smaller counties and cities still prohibit or restrict ADUs by default. A preemption bill (SB 48 / HB 313) is pending in the 2026 legislative session and is likely to pass given that its 2025 predecessor cleared the Senate 37-0 and House 97-10 before dying on a procedural amendment dispute.
- Florida Statutes § 163.31771 — Accessory dwelling units — Permissive (not mandatory) statute. Defines an ADU as 'an ancillary or secondary living unit, that has a separate kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area, existing either within the same structure, or on the same lot, as the primary dwelling unit.' Authorizes — but does not require — local governments to adopt ordinances allowing ADUs in single-family residential zones. Contains no size caps, no owner-occupancy rules, no HOA preemption. All substantive rulemaking is local.
State financing programs
Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) does not operate an ADU-specific state loan or grant program. FHFC's primary affordable-housing lever at the ADU tier is the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), which distributes state documentary-stamp-tax revenue to all 67 counties and 52 entitlement cities for locally-administered housing programs — some of which may fund ADU construction at the local level (notably Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program, run through the Orange County Housing Finance Trust). FHFC's FL Assist down-payment programs and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage conventional loans apply to ADU-eligible primary residences but do not single out ADUs. Proposed CS/SB 1440 would create a state property-tax exemption of up to 100% of assessed value for an ADU rented at affordable rates.
State housing programs
Florida does not currently operate a statewide pre-approved ADU plan catalog (unlike California or Washington). State-level ADU implementation is driven by (a) the permissive § 163.31771 which lets willing jurisdictions adopt ordinances, (b) SHIP pass-through funding to local ADU programs (Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program is the model), and (c) the affordable-housing property-tax exemption under the Live Local Act (SB 102 / SB 328). The Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) — now reorganized as the Department of Commerce — provides technical assistance to local governments but no statewide ADU-specific mandate or program. Major counties (Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Broward) have published their own ADU ordinances and guidance documents.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.