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What Reno, Sparks and Washoe County allow when you rent out an ADU

Yes, an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) can be rented to a long-term tenant in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County: since 1 July 2026, Nevada law (NRS 278.257) has barred their ADU ordinances from prohibiting it, within limits the statute sets. Short-term rental is what a local code may still restrict, and the three differ: Reno’s ADU guide says an ADU may be rented short-term, unincorporated Washoe County (the parts outside Reno and Sparks city limits) may allow one with a county permit outside the Tahoe planning area (Incline Village and Crystal Bay), and the Sparks code says nothing directly. Each rule below is quoted with its source and reading date, and the questions we will not answer are named.

Ask about renting your ADU All planning notes
Published
23 October 2026
Subject
Renting out an ADU, long-term or short-term
What we will not do
Restate Reno’s short-term rental rules or guess at Sparks
Faster than reading
(775) 200-0648, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

01The short answer

Nevada law now protects an ADU rented as housing and leaves short-term rental to each local code.

Under Nevada Revised Statutes 278.257(2)(e), the ADU ordinances of Reno, Sparks and Washoe County may not “prohibit the owner of the residential property from using the accessory dwelling unit as rental housing.” The next sentence says an ordinance “may prohibit” the same use “as transient lodging,” which in plain terms is short-term rental, the kind booked through vacation rental listings.

The duty to adopt an ADU ordinance falls on every county of 100,000 people or more and every city of 60,000 or more (NRS 278.257(1)), which covers Washoe County, Reno and Sparks. The section comes from Assembly Bill 396, approved by the Governor on 6 June 2025 and in effect for all purposes since 1 July 2026 (the bill’s record on NELIS, the Legislature’s online bill tracker, read 22 October 2026). The section sets its own limits: subsection 5 says an ordinance adopted under it “does not apply in a region in a county or city in this State for which there has been created by interstate compact a regional planning agency” whose regional plan regulates housing, and subsection 6 defines the residential property it covers as property in an area “zoned for single-family residential use,” so ask the planning counter for your parcel whether either limit reaches it.

Everything else is written separately in each local code, and which ordinance governs your parcel is set out in how Reno, Sparks and Washoe County each review an ADU.

02Three counters

Reno, Sparks and unincorporated Washoe County give three different answers on short-term rental.

On short-term rental of an ADU, Reno’s ADU guide says yes, Washoe County Development Code 110.319.15(a)(6) may allow it with a county permit outside the Tahoe planning area and bars new ones inside it, and the Sparks Municipal Code says nothing directly. Each quote below was read on 22 October 2026.

Reno’s ADU Guide and FAQs, revised 13 October 2025, says “ADUs may be rented out both long-term and short-term.” That is city guidance, not the text of the code.

Washoe County’s ADU Hub says the county “does not restrict the occupancy of an ADU to family members” and that an ADU “can also be utilized as a long-term rental property.” For short-term rental, Development Code 110.319.15(a)(6) permits one STR, the code’s short form for a short-term rental, per parcel, and says a second STR on the same parcel “may be allowed on properties located outside of the Tahoe planning area, if established within a legally permitted attached or detached accessory dwelling,” under a county short-term rental permit.

Inside the Tahoe planning area, which takes in Incline Village and Crystal Bay, the same section says: “Effective October 14, 2024, it is prohibited for newly permitted STRs to be established in accessory dwelling units (ADUs) within the Tahoe planning area.” An ADU short-term rental permitted before that date stays valid while the ownership stays the same.

In Sparks, the zoning use table, the code’s list of which uses are allowed where, has a lodging and short-term rental category that lists only bed and breakfasts, hotels and motels, recreational vehicle parks and resorts, and Sparks Municipal Code 20.02.013(B) says “Uses not listed in the use table, are presumed to be prohibited,” and the same subsection lets an owner make the case that an unlisted use is materially similar to a permitted one, which the Planning Commission hears through a conditional use permit, a case-by-case approval that can carry conditions. The code says nothing directly about an ADU rented short-term, so this page states no Sparks rule either way.

03Built to rent

A unit meant for a tenant is settled at the drawing stage, by its entry, its parking and its meters.

Reno Land Development Code 18.03.405(a) and Washoe County Development Code 110.306.20 each limit where an attached ADU’s entry may go and require a parking space for it, and Sparks Municipal Code 20.03.003(C) makes an ADU share the main house’s meters.

On the entry, Reno’s code says “The front door of the attached ADU shall not be visible from the same street that the front door of the principal structure faces” (18.03.405(a)(9)c), the principal structure being the main house. Washoe County’s code says an attached unit’s exterior entrance “shall not be located along the same wall as the main entrance to the main unit” (110.306.20(f)).

On parking, Reno’s code says “One designated parking space shall be provided on-site” (18.03.405(a)(7)). Washoe County requires at least one off-street space, meaning one on the lot rather than at the curb, for an attached or detached ADU (110.306.20(g) and 110.306.25(g)), though 110.306.25(l) drops it for a minor ADU, the code’s smaller class of unit, on a parcel above the size that section sets.

On meters, a Sparks ADU “shall not obtain a separate address” and “shall utilize the same water, electric, and gas meters as the principal dwelling unit” (20.03.003(C)(6) and (C)(7), text added by Ordinance 2512 in 2015), so as the code reads, a tenant’s water, power and gas run through the house’s meters. Where the water comes from the Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA), its Rule 6, Section F.1 says owners of a property “with multiple occupancy units may request that separate Meters be installed for each unit,” a request “granted where feasible for the operating convenience of the Authority”; in Sparks, 20.03.003(C)(7) above still requires the shared meter. Whether your unit can have a meter of its own is worked through in when an ADU must share the house’s meters.

04The refusal

We will not tell you what Reno requires of a short-term rental, whether Sparks allows one, or whether you must live on the property.

This page leaves five rental questions unanswered on purpose: what Reno requires before an ADU is rented short-term, whether a Sparks ADU may be rented short-term, whether the owner must live on the parcel in Reno, Sparks or unincorporated Washoe County, what your recorded covenants, the deed and subdivision restrictions on your lot, allow, and what renting does to a property tax bill.

Reno’s rules for operating a short-term rental are not restated here, so the ADU guide’s one sentence is all this page repeats. The Sparks code is silent on an ADU rented short-term. On owner occupancy, no planning counter has confirmed the answer to us in writing, and a rule absent from a section cannot be quoted, so we say neither yes nor no.

Reno’s code says “ADUs shall not conflict with private restrictions per 18.01.305, Conflicting Provisions” (18.03.405(a)(6)). So those covenants and any homeowners association rules are part of the answer, and they are yours to read. We found no Washoe County Assessor guidance written for ADUs, so nothing here describes a tax effect.

Behind all five is one reason: rental rules carry their own permits and change by ordinance, and a confident wrong answer costs you a tenant or a permit. Ask the planning counter in writing, at planning@reno.gov in Reno, Washoe Planning through the county’s ADU Hub, or Sparks Planning, and we will read the answer with you.

05Before the first tenant

In Washoe County a second short-term rental must be in a legally permitted ADU, and Reno guest quarters may not be rented at all.

Washoe County Development Code 110.319.15(a)(6) allows a second short-term rental on a parcel outside the Tahoe planning area only in a legally permitted attached or detached ADU, so a unit built without a permit does not qualify.

Reno’s code separates guest quarters, such as a casita, from an ADU by the kitchen: guest quarters “are not ‘accessory dwelling units’ because guest quarters do not contain separate and independent cooking (kitchen) facilities and may not be rented” (Land Development Code 18.09.302, in Ordinance 6727). If the room you have in mind has no kitchen, read where the kitchen draws that line before you count on rent from it.

Reno’s ADU guide adds that “ADUs cannot be sold separate from the primary residence,” and all three allow no more than one ADU per lot: Reno in 18.03.405(a)(3), Sparks in 20.03.003(B)(3) and Washoe County in 110.306.20(h), which counts guest quarters toward that one.

For first steps, Reno’s ADU guide says to email a planner at planning@reno.gov and a building plan reviewer at permits@reno.gov, then submit plans and the building permit application online at onenv.us. If the plan is a unit to rent, the build side is on how we build ADUs and garage conversions.

06Questions

Three questions to settle before you rent out an ADU.

07Keep going

Three pages for what comes after the rental question.

08Start a conversation

Tell us who the unit is for, and we will read the rental rules for your parcel with you.

Family, a long-term tenant or nightly guests: each one sends you to different sections. Send the address or the parcel number, and we will read the current text with you and name the questions only your planning counter can answer.

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The address or the parcel number, whether the unit exists yet, and who you want to rent it to. That is enough to tell you which sections govern it.

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