Ready to build or rent out an ADU? Here’s how to win over nervous neighbors

A refuge for aging parents. Rental income for your golden years. There are plenty of good reasons to build an accessory dwelling unit, also known as an ADU. But don’t assume everyone will be cool with it.

Like Wilson behind the fence on “Home Improvement,” neighbors are lurking. Legally, in California, they can’t stop you from building an ADU — provided it meets state requirements. But they can make your life hell. “Do everything by the book” or complaints to the city could derail your project, warned a marketing professional in Glendale, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid further conflict.

Once he started construction on his ADU, he said, neighbors yelled at him and his contractor and regularly reported minor infractions. At one point, a drone mysteriously crashed into his garage. Despite the stress, his permits were in order, and now he’s renting the space out.

Neighbors have reason to be nervous about ADUs: They can be a terrible inconvenience. Construction can drag on for months or years. Loud tenants can disrupt a quiet block. And an extra car isn’t going to make street parking easier to find. That’s why it’s a good idea to smooth things over before the digging starts.

“Just treat people the way you want to be treated and it will be reciprocated,” said actor Uy, who can be seen in “Power Book IV: Force” on Starz. He and his wife nearly have the permits to start building an ADU in the backyard of their Glassell Park home. But he didn’t wait until work began to reach out to people in his neighborhood. He started that process three years ago, sharing detailed construction plans and even offering to buy tarps to cover his neighbor’s vintage cars.

Being considerate can help you avoid years of icy stares and awkward encounters. Follow these tips and maybe your neighbors will return the favor when they build ADUs of their own.

Talk to your neighbors. Or have someone do it for you.

Reaching out to neighbors before construction comes highly recommended. If you’re already pals, congrats! Your job is pretty easy.

“If your relationship with your neighbors is rocky, particularly with the ones that border your property, it’s even more important to extend an olive branch,” said Geary, cPredictably, not everyone enjoys dealing with prickly neighbors — or any neighbors, for that matter.

“I don’t know why I feel so self-conscious about going out and knocking on doors,” said Hearn, a teacher in Harbor City. In 2022, she built an ADU for her mother. Her project manager at contacted her neighbors for her.

“It was nice because he’s a professional, he does it all the time,” Hearn said. “He’s always dealing with people in neighborhoods. And so I was like, ‘Oh, it’s nice that he’s handling this and I don’t have to worry about it. Perfect.’”