Live South Salt Lake listings, filtered
Homes with an ADU or casita in South Salt Lake.
South Salt Lake listings with an accessory dwelling unit, whether that is a basement apartment, a detached casita, or an attached mother-in-law suite, fed straight from the MLS and sorted newest first, with a clear read on what to verify before you write an offer.
This page's filter
- Filter
- ADU, casita, or mother-in-law
- Area
- South Salt Lake, UT
- Sort
- Newest first
- Feed
- Local MLS, live
Want it narrower? Tell me your exact spec.
Newest first
The newest ADU and casita listings.
Fed straight from the local MLS and filtered to homes that note an accessory dwelling unit, whether that is a basement apartment, a detached casita, or an attached mother-in-law suite: new South Salt Lake listings appear here as they list, and sold homes drop off. The read on what makes one legal is just below.
Buying here
Sort legal from existing before you tour.
A basement apartment, a casita, or an attached suite only counts as a true accessory unit if the separate entrance, kitchen, and egress windows are permitted, not just built, and many older South Salt Lake conversions predate today's rules. Tell me what layout you need and the South Salt Lake-area partner agent I work with will pull the permit history on any home you flag.
Selling here
Own a South Salt Lake home with a documented ADU or casita?
Buyers on this page want a legal separate suite with the permits and egress to back it up. List it with the South Salt Lake-area partner agent I connect you with and it goes in front of exactly that search.
Listing information comes from the local MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
The local read
What an ADU or casita really means in South Salt Lake.
An accessory dwelling is a property feature, not a promise. On a South Salt Lake listing it can mean a few different things: a basement apartment where the lower level has been built out as a self-contained living space, a detached casita set apart from the main house, or an attached mother-in-law suite on the main or upper floor. Each version usually carries a second kitchen, its own bathroom, a separate exterior entrance, and sometimes a separate utility meter. The search shows up here for two honest reasons, multigenerational living under one roof and a rentable suite where the unit is legal, and both turn on the same homework, which is whether the space is actually permitted.
In a city this small and this dense, the form the search takes is fairly predictable. The older post-war east side, the 1940s-to-1960s bungalows and ramblers around Granite Park and the blocks off State Street, carries the larger detached homes over full basements, and that is where a basement apartment or an attached suite actually turns up. A fully detached casita is the rarest shape of the three here, since the original grid runs on narrow lots with little room for a second structure, so treat one as a find rather than an expectation. The fast-rising attached layer, the townhomes, condos, and live-work units along the TRAX and S-Line corridors in the Downtown, Streetcar, and Riverfront redevelopment zones, is a different animal entirely: structured or tuck-under parking, shared walls, and no detached basement or side yard to convert, so it is rarely where any of these three forms lives. The new detached ramblers going up at Riverfront on the west side are new construction with no accessory-unit history yet, so do not assume one comes with the house.
Here is the part that matters more than the photos. A finished basement, a converted room over a garage, or a guest structure out back is not the same as a legal apartment. A second kitchen and an outside door do not make any of the three forms conforming on their own, and a great many existing accessory units in older Utah housing were finished over the years without permits or were built before today's rules. That is not a reason to walk away, but it is the reason to verify rather than assume. Two questions decide everything: whether the unit is permitted with South Salt Lake City and whether it has its own legal egress, meaning a code-sized window well or door out of every sleeping room below grade. What an accessory dwelling is allowed to be on a given property depends on that parcel's zoning, so the answer is property-specific, not citywide.
Treat any income angle with the same caution. I will not quote you a rent number or a payment number on a page like this, because what a unit could earn depends on its legal status, the specific space, and rules that change, and a non-conforming unit cannot be counted on at all. What I can do is point you at the right stock. If a true separate suite is the goal, the older east-side grid is the natural hunting ground, so the single-story page is a useful next stop, and the no-HOA page covers the older parcels with the most freedom. If you only want the extra square footage and not a second kitchen or a separate structure, the homes with a basement page is the wider search, a different intent than this one. Earlier in the process than show me listings? Start with the South Salt Lake guide, and when a home below reads right, that is the moment to reach out.
What counts as an accessory dwelling
-
The form it takes: in South Salt Lake most of these are basement apartments, since the older post-war grid already carries full basements. An attached mother-in-law suite is possible on the bigger of those older homes, and a fully detached casita is rare on this city's narrow, dense lots, so read the listing for where the space actually sits.
-
Second kitchen: a full or kitchenette setup is the core marker, whether it sits in a basement apartment, a casita, or an attached suite. A finished basement with no kitchen is just finished space, not a separate unit, so read the listing for the actual layout.
-
Separate entrance: the second front door of the page title. A private exterior entry, often a walk-down or a side door, is what makes the lower level usable as its own space rather than a through-the-house extension.
-
Separate egress: every sleeping room below grade needs a code-sized window well or a door to the outside. This is a safety item and a legality item at once, and it is the first thing to confirm in person.
-
Separate utilities: some units have their own gas or electric meter, or at least split HVAC. It is a convenience, not proof of legality, so note it but do not read it as a permit.
The local map
Where the ADUs and casitas actually are.
Homes with a built-out accessory space turn up in only a few parts of this small city, and a true separate suite concentrates on the older east-side grid. Here is where to look, and the due-diligence note attached to each.
Granite Park, the post-war grid
The central-east area named for Granite Park Jr High, roughly 3300 South and State over to 500 East, holds the closest thing the city has to a classic detached neighborhood, with post-war bungalows and ramblers on the original blocks over full basements. This is the most likely place to find a real basement apartment or an attached suite, and also the most likely place to find one finished without a permit, so it is the area where verification matters most.
The State Street-area grid
The residential blocks a street or two off the State Street commercial spine carry more of the same larger older single-family stock, some with a basement built out as its own level or an attached suite. You weigh the convenience of the corridor against the traffic noise, so tour these blocks at different hours, and confirm the egress on any below-grade bedroom.
The east-side blocks toward 500-700 East
Out toward the city's eastern edge the grid stays single-family and a touch quieter than the State Street side. Same era and scale, older and larger homes on mature lots, and the bigger of these are the ones most likely to carry a separate lower-level living space or the rare detached casita. You still verify the permit and the zoning.
Split-level floor plans
South Salt Lake's mid-century grid mixes a slice of split-levels in with the ramblers, and the layout lends itself to a lower level with its own grade-level door, sometimes just a half-flight down. That is why some conversions started here. Confirm the egress windows on the bedrooms below.
Larger lots on the older grid
The bigger older lots on the east side sometimes carry taller, deeper basements, which makes a comfortable second kitchen and a real bedroom downstairs more workable than in a low, fully below-grade basement, and they are about the only lots in the city with room for a detached casita, if one turns up at all. Stand in the space and check the ceiling height before you read it as a true suite.
Redevelopment zones: a different product
The Downtown, Streetcar, and Riverfront districts along the transit corridors are building attached townhomes, condos, and apartments with structured parking, so they are rarely where any of these three forms lives. The rare detached new-build pocket at Riverfront on the west side is newer ramblers and two-story homes with no accessory-unit history yet, not the older basement-conversion stock.
Before you tour: what to actually check
Is it permitted: ask the listing agent for the permit history and confirm the unit's status with South Salt Lake City. A second kitchen and a side door do not make a unit legal on their own, and what is allowed depends on the parcel's zoning.
Egress on every bedroom: each sleeping room below grade needs a code-sized egress window and well, or a door to the outside. Look at the actual window wells, not just the listing photos.
Conforming vs. existing: many older accessory units are non-conforming, finished before today's rules or without permits. Understand exactly what you are buying and what can and cannot be relied on.
Separate systems: check whether the kitchen, HVAC, and any meter are genuinely separate, and whether the wiring and gas work for the second kitchen were done to code and inspected.
Ceiling height and light: an older grid basement can be low. Stand in it. A taller or daylight lower level lives very differently from a short, fully below-grade basement, especially in the 1940s-to-1960s stock.
Noise, water, and the rest: this is a compact city near freeways, TRAX, the S-Line, and freight spurs, so visit morning and evening. Water service is a block-by-block patchwork between the city, Salt Lake City, and a conservancy district, so check the bill, and on any older-core home date the roof, furnace, electrical panel, and sewer lateral.
Want a real ADU or casita without the guesswork?
Tell me your budget, the part of South Salt Lake you like, whether you want a basement apartment, an attached suite, or a detached casita, and whether you need a fully permitted, conforming unit or are open to an existing space you would verify and possibly bring up to code. I will connect you with a trusted South Salt Lake-area partner agent for the on-the-ground work and stay on the file for the homework and the financing, with straight answers about which spaces are legal suites and which are just finished basements with a door.
Selling a South Salt Lake home with a basement apartment, a casita, or a finished lower level? The buyers reading this page want exactly that. List it with the South Salt Lake-area partner agent I connect you with, and your home gets featured across MovingUtah, on the pages they are already reading.
Quick answers
ADU and casita shopping, answered.
It is a secondary living space that can function on its own, and listings use a few different words for it. A basement apartment is a lower level built out with a second kitchen, its own bathroom, and a separate exterior entrance. A casita usually means a small detached structure set apart from the main house, and a mother-in-law suite usually means an attached apartment on the main or upper level. In South Salt Lake the basement apartment is by far the most common form, since the older post-war grid already has the full basements, while a detached casita is rare on this city's narrow, dense lots and an attached suite is more realistic on the larger older homes. All of these are property features describing the space, nothing more. The big thing to know is that a second kitchen and an outside door do not make a unit legal on their own, so the real work is confirming whether it is permitted and conforming with South Salt Lake City.
Some are and some are not, which is exactly why you verify rather than assume. Any of these forms must be permitted with South Salt Lake City to be treated as a separate dwelling, and what is allowed depends on the parcel's zoning. Many existing units in older homes were finished over the years without permits or were built before today's rules, so they are non-conforming. That is not a dealbreaker by itself, but you need to know which one you are buying. Confirm the zoning, the permit history, the unit's status, and the egress independently before you rely on it, and I will help line up those checks.
Most often on the older east-side grid, the post-war bungalows and ramblers from the 1940s through the 1960s around Granite Park and the blocks off State Street, the larger of which sit over full basements where a basement apartment turns up. An attached mother-in-law suite is more workable on the bigger of those older homes, and a fully detached casita is the rarest form, since this is a small, dense city built mostly on narrow original-grid lots. The newer attached layer along the TRAX and S-Line corridors is a different product with structured parking and is rarely where any of these three forms lives. The live listings above are the honest count on any given week.
Only where the unit is legal, and that is the whole point of the verification. A permitted, conforming accessory unit is a different thing from a non-conforming space that happens to have a kitchen, what is allowed depends on the parcel's zoning, and the rules around accessory units can change, so this is a question to confirm with South Salt Lake City for the specific property, not to assume from the listing. I will not put a rent figure on a page like this, because it depends entirely on the unit's legal status and the specifics, but I can connect you with a local agent who will get you straight answers on what the city allows.
Egress is a legal, code-sized way out of every below-grade sleeping room, usually an egress window with a window well sized for a person to climb out, or a door to the outside. It is both a safety requirement and a piece of what makes a basement bedroom or apartment count as legal living space. It matters most for the basement apartments that make up most of this search, and it is the first thing to confirm in person, because a room marketed as a bedroom downstairs is not really one without it. We check the actual window wells, not just the photos.
Tell me the budget, the part of town, and whether you need a fully permitted suite or are open to an existing space to verify, and I will connect you with a South Salt Lake-area partner agent and flag matching listings as they go live. Pair that with a pre-approval so you can move when the right separate-suite home lists, since these are a narrow slice and they do not sit long.