ADU Pass
San Juan
Guaynabo Municipio portion
Also in: No County · San Juan Municipio
ADU Pass helps homeowners in San Juan, Guaynabo Municipio, Puerto Rico navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 1 ZIP code.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Puerto Rico leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. San Juan permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $1,800 | $40,500 | $42,300 |
| 600 | 600 | $1,800 | $162,000 | $163,800 |
| midpoint | 525 | $1,800 | $141,750 | $143,550 |
| maximum | 900 | $1,800 | $243,000 | $244,800 |
Fee breakdown (as of 2026-04)
Permitting process
- Consulta de calificacion y POT San Juan (~10d)
San Juan operates under its own Plan de Ordenacion Territorial (POT). Confirm parcel district on the San Juan Mapa de Calificacion - residential districts R-3, R-4, R-G, R-I, R-O permit secondary dwelling under conditional terms. Check overlay districts: ZHC (Zona Historica de San Juan) covers Old San Juan and Puerta de Tierra and triggers Junta de Planificacion / ICP historic review. Coastal AE/VE flood zones along Condado, Ocean Park, Punta las Marias trigger NFIP elevation requirements. - Pre-application meeting (encouraged for ADUs) (~14d)
Capital municipio. Oficina de Permisos San Juan strongly recommends a pre-application consulta for accessory units to avoid rejection on density (densidad) grounds; the municipality interprets accessory residential strictly outside R-G districts. - Permiso Unico filing via SBP routed to Municipio Autonomo de San Juan (~1d)
Applicant logs in to sbp.pr.gov and selects 'Municipio Autonomo de San Juan' as the dispatch authority. San Juan's Jerarquia V status (the maximum) allows it to issue Permiso Unico for residential, commercial and demolition without OGPe co-signature. Required: planos firmados por arquitecto/ingeniero colegiado (CIAPR/CAAPPR), memorial descriptivo, escritura de propiedad, FEMA flood cert, ASCE 7-22 wind exposure D analysis (San Juan coastal mph design >175), and condominio HOA letter if in regimen de propiedad horizontal. - Completeness review by Oficina de Permisos San Juan (~30d)
30-day evaluation window typical. Capital workload runs higher backlog than smaller municipios; deficiency notices common on coastal flood-zone packages. - Endorsements (Bomberos PR, Salud, AAA, LUMA, DRNA, ICP if historic) (~45d)
San Juan requires Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena (ICP) endorsement for any work in Old San Juan, Puerta de Tierra, Miramar Hist., Santurce Centro Hist. Coastal parcels need DRNA Zona Maritimo Terrestre (ZMT) sign-off. LUMA Energy 30-60 day service-upgrade lead time. - Plan check final and fee assessment (~20d)
Technical review against Reglamento de Construccion de PR (2018+) and PR-amended IBC/IRC. San Juan publishes its fee schedule by valoracion (project value) - residential additions roughly 1.5% of declared cost. - Permit issuance and arbitrios municipales (~5d)
Once cleared, Permiso Unico issues and patente municipal (municipal license) tax may apply for rental use. - Construction inspections and Permiso de Uso
Inspector visits at foundation, framing/uplift connections (hurricane straps explicit in PR amendments), MEP, final. Permiso de Uso closes the file and authorizes occupancy/rental.
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. San Juan 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.
Contacts
Staff: Single Business Portal (SBP) - statewide intake (Permiso Unico filing portal), Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena (ICP) - historic endorsement (Required for Old San Juan, Puerta de Tierra, designated historic zones)
Utilities
- Water: San Juan Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: San Juan Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: San Juan Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: San Juan Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 9mo · typical 14mo · worst 22mo
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Puerto Rico's condominium regime is more sophisticated than most US territories — Law 129-2020 modernized the framework, mandated separate operating and reserve accounts, and added a short-term-rental floor — but it does not preempt CC&R restrictions on accessory dwellings. Conventional planned-unit-development HOAs outside the condominium framework are governed by general civil-code contract principles. Practical impact: in Puerto Rico's many condominium and gated-community contexts, ADU rights depend on the master deed.
Regulatory overlays (1)
- seismic-zone
Seismic Design Category D2 per ASCE 7; soft-story and unreinforced-masonry seismic considerations may apply.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of San Juan Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of San Juan ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current Puerto Rico accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Puerto Rico state — ADU law and programs
State HOA preemption
Puerto Rico's condominium regime is more sophisticated than most US territories — Law 129-2020 modernized the framework, mandated separate operating and reserve accounts, and added a short-term-rental floor — but it does not preempt CC&R restrictions on accessory dwellings. Conventional planned-unit-development HOAs outside the condominium framework are governed by general civil-code contract principles. Practical impact: in Puerto Rico's many condominium and gated-community contexts, ADU rights depend on the master deed.
State financing programs
Puerto Rico's primary public housing financing vehicle is the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (Departamento de la Vivienda, PRDOH), which administers HUD CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT recovery funds tied to Hurricanes Irma and María (2017) and the 2019–2020 earthquake sequence. The flagship homeowner-side program is R3 — the Home Repair, Reconstruction, or Relocation Program — funded with $2.2B+ of the $10B in CDBG-DR funds HUD has allocated to Puerto Rico for hurricane recovery. R3 funds repair, reconstruction, or relocation for single-family homes damaged by qualifying disasters; ADU-equivalent accessory structures could be built as part of a qualifying reconstruction but the program is not ADU-targeted. The Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority (Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda, AFV) issues mortgage-revenue-bond first-mortgage financing for first-time homebuyers. Outside the disaster-recovery channels, there is no commonwealth-wide ADU-specific consumer loan or grant.
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 Code
- 00934
Post Office
- 361 Calle Juan Calaf, 00918
Locale Names
- Caparra Carrier Section