California ADU fees seem way too high

General Real Estate Investing
5yFollow

California ADU fees seem way too high

Toby Auer
Member since 2020 · 27 posts · 9 votes

I bought a property in January and have been going through the process of getting an ADU built in the back. I have paid about 7k in fees already and just got my last bill for fees for 21k, for a grand total of over 28k. I was told some of these fees were unavoidable because my ADU is 796 sq ft which is above 750. Also because the existing house is only 1,000 sq ft.

I thought Newsom’s new law was making these ADUs more affordable to build but that’s not the case for me. Is there any way to fight these and get the fees lowered?

0Reply
27 views

4 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Matthew CrivelliBusiness Member
    Lender · MA · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    I think your looking at the new law the wrong way. They had to make sure all those people housing their old parents in in-law apartments were paying there fair share. Extortion is what it is. 

    [email protected]413-348-8346
    Freedom Capital Funding, LLC523 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Dan H.Pro Member
    Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Toby Auer:

    I bought a property in January and have been going through the process of getting an ADU built in the back. I have paid about 7k in fees already and just got my last bill for fees for 21k, for a grand total of over 28k. I was told some of these fees were unavoidable because my ADU is 796 sq ft which is above 750. Also because the existing house is only 1,000 sq ft.

    I thought Newsom’s new law was making these ADUs more affordable to build but that’s not the case for me. Is there any way to fight these and get the fees lowered?

     I suspect you are aware that the fees for <750' is different than for more than 750'.  You are 46' greater than 750' and for those 46' you will be charged the impact fees.  I think I would have somehow made 46' not part of the residential space and considered adding it later.  Example external storage area conveniently located where it can be converted to a walk in closet as a later time.

    Part of the exercise is knowing the various regulations.  Part of the game is to figure out how to get what you want with the lowest costs within these regulations.  There is no way i would have chosen to pay impact fees for 46'.  I would have looked for a way to get what I want without paying the impact fees.

    Look for creative solutions that can reduce costs as the costs are likely not going to be changed just because you desire it.

    Good luck

    0Reply
  • Toby Auer
    OP
    Member since 2020 · 27 posts · 9 votes
    5y

    @Matthew Crivelli

    Okay, ya it’s only my second property but I thought I found a niche that was hard to beat. It will still be very profitable, just expected a lot less fees.

    0Reply
  • Toby Auer
    OP
    Member since 2020 · 27 posts · 9 votes
    5y

    @Dan Heuschele

    Yeah I need to do more research on the next one. I was going to have this guy be the GC for me and he was going to manage the whole build. He has done quite a few of these but apparently he wasn’t aware of the 750’ because he didn’t say anything when I asked him to make it bigger. At least I sure hope he wasn’t aware of it. Those impact fees were $9,100 for it being over 750’. Tough lesson to learn so early on but I’ll do my best to keep those to a minimum from now on.

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free