ADU Pass
Avent Ferry Raleigh
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Avent Ferry Raleigh — a USPS locale inside Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina — navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This locale covers 3 ZIP codes.
Raleigh — city ADU rules and incentives
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
North Carolina partially preempts local ADU restrictions; cities retain authority over design and setbacks. Raleigh permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
City cost envelope
$142,575 all-in for a 575 sqft ADU (permit + build). Midpoint scenario.
Permit fee bundle: $1,700.
City viability (selected uses)
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
- 27603
- 27606
- 27607
Post Office
- 2100 Lake Dam Rd, 27606