| Max size | 1,000 sq ftmust be smaller than main house |
|---|---|
| Min size | 300 sq ftinterior floor area |
| Bedrooms | Up to 2 |
| Type | Attached + detachedDetached: existing buildings only |
| Parking | 3 spaces totalfor both units combined |
| Owner-occupancy | Requiredin either the ADU or the primary home |
| Short-term rental | 30-day minimum leaserules out short-term rentals |
| Utility connection | Tie into the existing electrical connection or choose a separate metersame statewide |
The July 2025 state law (RSA 674:71–73) overrides local ordinance language that conflicts with it — even language a town still has posted. Here's what that means in Newbury:
In Blodgett Landing, Newbury still makes you go before the Zoning Board of Adjustment and win a Special Exception just to add an ADU — even though a regular house is allowed there with no hearing at all. Since July 2025, state law entitles you to build one ADU there by right, with only a building permit, same as everywhere else in town.
Newbury's code tells you where your ADU's door has to be (side, rear, or through the main house's front door) and forces an interior connecting door between the units. State law says that choice — separate entrance or shared — belongs to you, not the town.
If Newbury doesn't otherwise make a regular house provide off-street parking in the Residential or Business districts, then requiring 3 spaces the moment you add an ADU looks like it goes beyond the one-extra-space cap state law allows — and even where it applies, you're supposed to get to choose on-site vs. off-site, which the town's text doesn't offer.
A large share of Newbury (a lake town) likely falls in the Shoreland Overlay. There, even in a district where ADUs are otherwise by-right, the town still requires a ZBA Special Exception. Whether an environmental overlay district can still impose this hearing after HB 577 is a genuine gray area worth an attorney's read.
If your garage or barn already sits too close to the property line under today's rules, Newbury's ordinance doesn't say you're still allowed to convert it into an ADU — but state law says you are, regardless of that nonconformity.
Newbury's text reads as if you need a house first, then add the apartment — it never says you can build both at once. State law gives you that right either way; this is a gap in the town's wording, not a clear ban, but worth confirming with the Code Enforcement Officer before you plan a simultaneous build.
On a small existing house (say, 700 sq ft), this 'must be smaller than the main house' rule could force your ADU under the 750 sq ft floor the state guarantees. It won't come up on an average-size home, but on Newbury's smaller camps and cottages it's a real edge case.
Since July 1, 2025, state law (RSA 674:71-73, as amended by HB 577) has guaranteed one ADU by right in every district that allows single-family homes — that is the operative rule today, and it overrides the stricter pieces of Newbury's 2023 ordinance described below. Newbury calls its ADU an 'accessory apartment' and allows one per lot in all three districts that permit single-family homes: Business (§4.10), Residential (§5.7), and Blodgett Landing Cottage (§6.12). The Mt. Sunapee Recreation District bans all residential use outright, so no ADU provision applies there — that's consistent with state law, which only requires ADU allowance where single-family homes are already permitted. Where Newbury lines up with the new state law: size limits (300–1,000 sq ft, both more generous than the state's 750–950 sq ft range), a max-two-bedroom cap (state only bars capping at ONE bedroom), and owner-occupancy of either unit (state-compliant, since it doesn't dictate which unit). Where Newbury's 2023 ordinance is now out of step with the July 2025 law: (1) in the Blodgett Landing Cottage District, EVERY accessory apartment still requires a full Zoning Board of Adjustment Special Exception hearing — even though regular houses are allowed there by right — which is exactly the kind of gatekeeping HB 577 eliminated; (2) the town dictates that your ADU's entrance must be on the side or rear of the building (or through the house's main entrance) and mandates an interior connecting door between the units, when state law and NH Housing's own guidance say that choice belongs to the homeowner; (3) in the Residential and Business Districts, the ordinance requires 3 total parking spaces on any lot with an ADU, with no general off-street parking requirement found anywhere else in the ordinance for an ordinary single-family home — which looks like it exceeds the state's 'up to one extra space, and only if the town already requires parking for the house' rule; (4) if your property sits in the Shoreland Overlay District (common on a lake town like Newbury), a Special Exception is required there too, even in districts where ADUs are otherwise by-right — a genuine gray area for an attorney to weigh in on; (5) the ordinance never explicitly protects your right to convert a setback-nonconforming existing garage or barn into an ADU, something state law guarantees; and (6) the text reads as though the principal dwelling must already exist before you add an apartment, without addressing the state-law right to build both at the same time. Newbury has not amended this ordinance since HB 577 passed — where the town text and the statute collide, the statute controls. See conflicts[] for full citations.
Get a free personalized report for your address in Newbury — including where the 2025 law works in your favor.
Get My Free Newbury ADU Report →House Bill 577 (2025) amended RSA 674:72, effective July 1, 2025. Wherever Newbury's ordinance is stricter than this floor, the state law controls. Read the full NH ADU law explainer →
Yes — one ADU is allowed by right under the July 2025 state law. Newbury (which calls it an 'accessory apartment') permits it attached or as a conversion of an existing detached building in its Business, Residential, and Blodgett Landing Cottage Districts — and where the town still requires a hearing, state law overrides it. Under RSA 674:72 (as amended effective July 1, 2025), one accessory dwelling unit — attached or detached — is allowed by right on single-family lots statewide.
1,000 sq ft — must be smaller than main house. State law doesn't let any town cap ADU size below 750 sq ft.
Attached + detached (Detached: existing buildings only). Since July 1, 2025, state law allows detached ADUs by right statewide — town provisions that prohibited them are superseded.
3 spaces total — for both units combined. State law caps what any town can require at one additional space, located on- or off-site at the owner's choice.
Required — in either the ADU or the primary home. Where owner-occupancy is required, state law lets the owner choose which unit to live in.