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Largo, FL

Largo Backyard Cottages Outside the Flood Hazard Areas

A Largo cottage for your parent comes with a signed promise about future rent, so decide now whether the family might ever let it to someone else.

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62The age at least one parent or grandparent must have reached for the living quarters reduction in Florida Statute 193.703
50%Of a structure's market value, the cost at which 44 CFR 59.1 makes an addition a substantial improvement
16 townsCovered across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, each with its own local rules set out on its page
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Detached ADUs quote in Largo

Who the space is for, whether it needs a kitchen, and the address. With those three answers we can say which city or county rules govern the lot before a contractor draws anything.

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$100 off your first job

Credited by us on your first booked job.

  • One credit per customer per property, on your first booked job.
  • Valid through December 31, 2026.
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Mention this offer when you book. Full terms.

Five short questions about who the space is for and what it needs to hold, then where to reach you. Most people finish in about a minute.

Question 1What are you thinking of building?

Pick the closest. If you are not sure yet, that is exactly what we help sort out.

Question 2Who will live in it?

This matters more than it sounds. In Florida the answer can change the property tax on what you build.

Question 3Does the new space need its own kitchen?

In Florida law a space with its own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom is a second dwelling, and each city and county decides whether one is allowed on your lot.

Question 4Is the house in a flood zone?

In a flood zone, a large enough addition can mean the whole house has to meet today's flood rules. Your insurance declarations page or the county flood map will say.

Question 5When does the space need to be ready?
About you, and the house the space would join

Who should we ask for?

How can we reach you?

We call to confirm the details before anyone is sent out.

Where is the property?

The contractor match is by property, not by person, so the street line matters.

Anything else we should know?

Your $100 credit is attached to this request. Mention this offer when you book. See terms.

Your details are used only to respond to this request and arrange the service.

Deciding

Largo's flood map, then the cottage

The flood map comes before any of that. In either hazard area Largo does not permit an ADU at all, and the city's NFIP record holds 781 claims, 497 of them in 2024. If the lot is inside, the realistic choices are an attached suite without a kitchen or a garage conversion under Largo's own garage standards. If it is outside, size the cottage to the smaller of 800 square feet and half the house, and keep the affidavit in mind.

  1. Confirm the lot is outside both zones

    Largo's ban covers the Special Flood Hazard Area and the Coastal High Hazard Area. A cottage design is wasted money on a lot inside either.

  2. Size to the smaller of two numbers

    The cap is 800 square feet or 50 percent of the principal home's living area, whichever is less.

  3. Talk about rent before signing

    The affordable-rate affidavit is notarized. If a relative might pay rent later, read the state definition first.

How detached adus works →

Local Detail

Largo's ADU code and its 2024 flood claims

Floor plan drawings for a small home addition beside a tape measure

Largo's Comprehensive Development Code (Sec. 16.14, Ord. 2025-01) does not permit ADUs in the Coastal High Hazard Area or the Special Flood Hazard Area, caps an ADU at 800 square feet or 50 percent of the principal home's living area, whichever is less, requires either the main home or the ADU to be owner-occupied, and requires a notarized affidavit that the unit, if rented, will be rented only at an affordable rate as defined in F.S. 163.31771.

Source: City of Largo (Municode), accessed 2026-09-23

OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims data (as of September 2026) records, by NFIP community, with records beginning in 1978: St. Petersburg 16,189 claims (8,670 in 2024, $1,266.6 million paid in total); Clearwater 2,951 claims (1,472 in 2024, $231.5 million paid in total); Dunedin 1,601 claims (791 in 2024, $123.0 million paid in total); Tarpon Springs 1,415 claims (717 in 2024, $56.3 million paid in total); Largo 781 claims (497 in 2024, $78.6 million paid in total); Pinellas Park 895 claims (228 in 2024, $15.9 million paid in total); Oldsmar 776 claims (454 in 2024, $40.5 million paid in total); Seminole 223 claims (180 in 2024, $13.9 million paid in total); Safety Harbor 147 claims (61 in 2024, $5.2 million paid in total).

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (OpenFEMA), accessed 2026-09-23

Florida Statute 163.31771 defines an accessory dwelling unit as an ancillary or secondary living unit that has a separate kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area, within the same structure or on the same lot as the primary dwelling.

Source: The Florida Senate (Florida Statutes), accessed 2026-09-23

Licensed and insured Florida contractorsVetted local contractors licensed by the State of Florida and insured for the work, who price and contract it themselves
The three rules checked for your addressThe kitchen, the flood line and the county tax rule looked at before any contractor is asked for a number
Told when an addition is not the answerIf a first-floor room or a bathroom change inside the house would do, you hear that before anyone draws a suite
In The Field

What detached adus involves in Largo

Floor plan drawings for a small home addition beside a tape measure
A wide doorway with no threshold and a lever door handle
Local Context

What Largo asks of a detached ADU owner

Building a cottage for a parent is a decision about the next several years, and Largo's 2025 code asks you to think past them. Outside the Special Flood Hazard Area and the Coastal High Hazard Area, the city allows an ADU of up to 800 square feet or half the main home's living area, whichever is less. The owner has to live in the house or the cottage. And Largo requires a notarized affidavit that if the unit is ever rented, it will be rented only at an affordable rate as defined in F.S. 163.31771. That is a real commitment, so it belongs in the family conversation now.

A quiet Tampa Bay street of single-story ranch houses near a canal
Next Step

Inside or outside Largo's flood hazard areas?

Send the address. We check both zones before a contractor designs anything, because in Largo that settles whether a cottage is possible.

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Questions

Largo backyard cottage questions

Does my family have to live on the property for a Largo ADU?

One of the two units has to be owner-occupied, either the main home or the ADU. A parent who owns the house could live in the cottage while the family lives in the main home, or the other way round.

Can we put a prefab cottage on a Largo lot in the flood zone?

Not as a place to live. Largo does not permit ADUs in the Special Flood Hazard Area or the Coastal High Hazard Area, and a prefabricated unit with its own kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area is an ADU like any other.

Next Step

Tell us about the Largo cottage

Who it is for and whether rent might ever come into it. We brief a vetted Florida-licensed contractor, who does the pricing.

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