| Max size | 750 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Min size | No town minimumbuild as small as code allows |
| Bedrooms | Up to 22 persons per bedroom |
| Type | Attached onlydetached prohibited (state overrides) |
| Parking | 2 spacesno new curb cut; state caps at 1 |
| Owner-occupancy | Requiredin either the ADU or the primary home |
| Short-term rental | Not stated |
| 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 Weare:
Since July 1, 2025, state law entitles you to a straightforward building permit for one ADU — no board hearing required. Weare's ordinance still says you need a Zoning Board of Adjustment special-exception hearing, but state law overrides that.
State law now entitles you to a detached ADU — including a garage conversion — whether or not the town's ordinance has caught up. Weare's posted ordinance only allows an ADU built inside or attached to your house and doesn't mention detached ADUs at all; that's the single biggest gap here, and state law overrides it.
State law says an ADU must be allowed wherever single-family homes are — so if your home sits in one of Weare's designated Village Districts (Riverdale, Weare Center, Clinton Grove, Chase Village, Tavern Village, or North Weare Village), you're entitled to an ADU pathway there even though the town's ordinance doesn't provide one.
State law caps the ADU parking requirement at one extra space, and lets you put it off-site if you want. Weare's ordinance still demands two extra spaces just for the ADU — overridden.
State law says the choice of entrance location and ingress/egress is the homeowner's — the town can't dictate it. Weare's ordinance still explicitly bans putting an ADU entrance on the front of the house, but that ban is superseded.
It's not fully clear whether Weare's "interior connecting door or other access" clause forces a shared-access design or just requires some means of interior passage. If read as mandatory shared access, it likely conflicts with the homeowner's state-law right to choose independent access instead. Worth an attorney read.
Weare can only hold an ADU to the same exterior-material standards it holds an ordinary house to — not stricter ones. Whether this specific "uniform with the single dwelling" clause crosses that line is an attorney call.
The controlling rule first: since July 1, 2025, RSA 674:71-73 (as amended by HB 577) guarantees one ADU — attached or detached — by right wherever single-family homes are allowed: no special-exception hearing, no more than one required extra parking space (owner's choice of on-site or off-site), and no town-dictated entrance location. Weare's ADU ordinance (Zoning §19.1.10) has not been amended since March 13, 2017 (the ordinance as a whole is updated only through March 2019), and nearly every operative provision in it is now superseded. As written, the ordinance: requires a Zoning Board of Adjustment special-exception hearing just to add an ADU (state law now requires by-right approval, no hearing); allows the ADU ONLY if it's built within or attached to the house, with no detached-ADU or garage-conversion option at all (state law now entitles homeowners to a detached ADU); only extends this allowance to the Residential and Rural/Agricultural zoning districts, leaving out the Village District even though Village districts already permit single-family homes (state law requires ADUs be allowed everywhere single-family homes are); demands two dedicated parking spaces for the ADU (state law caps that at one extra space, with the homeowner's choice of on-site or off-site); and explicitly bans a new ADU entrance facing the front of the house (state law bars the town from dictating entrance location). Two more provisions — a requirement for an "interior connecting door" between units, and a rule that ADU exterior materials be "uniform" with the house — are murkier and worth a land-use attorney's review, since they may or may not cross the lines state law draws around shared-access choice and aesthetic standards. On the size side, Weare caps ADU living space at 750 sq ft with no stated minimum and a 2-bedroom limit; 750 sq ft is exactly the smallest maximum a town may lawfully impose under the 2025 law, so the cap is technically compliant — just the least generous allowed. Owner-occupancy is required (either unit, town doesn't specify which — a requirement state law permits). Bottom line: almost every operative rule in Weare's posted ordinance is either flatly superseded by the July 2025 state law or needs an attorney's eye — homeowners should not take this ordinance's restrictions (special exception, no detached ADU, 2 parking spaces, no front door) at face value.
Get a free personalized report for your address in Weare — including where the 2025 law works in your favor.
Get My Free Weare ADU Report →House Bill 577 (2025) amended RSA 674:72, effective July 1, 2025. Wherever Weare's ordinance is stricter than this floor, the state law controls. Read the full NH ADU law explainer →
Yes — and state law now guarantees it by right, attached OR detached. Weare's posted ordinance (last amended 2017) still says attached-only, by special-exception hearing — both overridden by the July 2025 state law. 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.
750 sq ft. State law doesn't let any town cap ADU size below 750 sq ft.
Attached only (detached prohibited (state overrides)). Since July 1, 2025, state law allows detached ADUs by right statewide — town provisions that prohibited them are superseded.
2 spaces — no new curb cut; state caps at 1. 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.