ADU Pass
Cary
Wake County portion
Also in: No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Cary, Wake County, North Carolina navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 4 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
North Carolina partially preempts local ADU restrictions; cities retain authority over design and setbacks. Cary permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,700 | $37,500 | $39,200 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,700 | $150,000 | $151,700 |
| midpoint | 575 | $1,700 | $143,750 | $145,450 |
| maximum | 1,000 | $1,700 | $250,000 | $251,700 |
Fee breakdown
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law and any city rental-registration ordinance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR rules vary by city. Cary regulates STRs separately from ADU permitting; check local STR ordinance and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit or rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted in single-family zones.
Utilities
- Water: Cary Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Cary Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Cary Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Cary Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 11mo · worst 16mo
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
North Carolina has no statute that voids HOA bans on ADUs. The North Carolina Planned Community Act (G.S. Chapter 47F) governs planned communities created on or after January 1, 1999 and the NC Condominium Act (Chapter 47C) governs condominiums; neither contains an ADU carve-out. Restrictive covenants in declarations and bylaws — including those prohibiting accessory structures, secondary kitchens, or short-term rentals — remain enforceable per their terms. SB 495 / HB 627 (pending) is silent on HOA preemption; even if enacted as currently drafted it would preempt local-government zoning but not private restrictive covenants.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of Cary Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Cary ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current North Carolina accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Wake County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Wake County (state-capital county; ~1,170,000 residents — North Carolina's most populous county; encompassing Raleigh, Cary partial, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Wendell, Zebulon, Morrisville partial, Rolesville, Angier partial, and unincorporated tracts in eastern, southern, and western Wake County) regulates land use in unincorporated areas through the Wake County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), administered by the Wake County Department of Planning, Development and Inspections. North Carolina has no statewide ADU preemption — North Carolina's stateAduLaw is netEffect 'no-statewide-law' — though SB 308 (2023, did not pass) and SB 174 (2025) have attempted to introduce statewide standards. The Wake County UDO permits 'accessory residential dwelling units' in agricultural and large-lot residential districts (R-30, R-40, R-80, R-A) by right on parcels meeting size minimums, subject to size limits (commonly 1,200 sq ft or 50% of principal dwelling), one-per-lot limit, and parking. Smaller residential districts treat ADUs as conditional uses requiring Board of Adjustment approval. The Wake County Board of Commissioners updated the UDO most recently in 2024.
County regulatory overlays
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.
ZIP Codes
- 27511
- 27513
- 27518
- 27519
Post Office
- 150 Wrenn Dr, 27511
- 205 S Academy St, 27519