The Anaheim SB9 Urban Lot Split Self-Certification: What You're Actually Signing — and Why It Can Kill Your Application
If you're planning to do an SB9 Urban Lot Split in Anaheim, there's a form that doesn't get much attention until it stops a deal cold: the Urban Lot Split / Two-Unit Development Self Certification (City of Anaheim Form Z222).
It's one page. Four certifications. You sign it under penalty of perjury.
Most owners glance at it and initial without thinking too hard. That's a mistake — because each of those four statements is a legal disqualifier. If any one of them isn't true for your property, your application is dead before it starts.
Here's what the form actually says, why it exists, and where owners most commonly get tripped up.
What Is the Self-Certification Form?
The City of Anaheim requires this form as part of any Urban Lot Split or Two-Unit Development application under Chapter 18.38.255 of the Anaheim Municipal Code. It's the city's way of screening out properties that California state law — specifically SB 9 — explicitly excludes from the Urban Lot Split pathway.
The state gave cities the Urban Lot Split tool to add housing. It also built in a set of tenant and affordability protections to prevent the tool from being used to displace low-income renters or skirt rent stabilization. The self-certification is how Anaheim enforces those protections at the application stage.
You're not just signing paperwork. You're affirming, under oath, that your property clears four specific legal hurdles.
The Four Certifications — Explained
1. No Affordable Housing Covenant
"I certify that the existing housing is not subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate-, low-, or very low-income."
If your property was financed with certain public funds, received a density bonus, or was built under an affordable housing program, it may have a recorded restriction that locks rents to income-based levels. These covenants typically run with the land for 30–55 years and show up on title.
If that restriction exists, the lot is ineligible for an Urban Lot Split — full stop. Before you initial this line, pull title and check for recorded covenants. This is a title search issue, not something you can verify by looking at the property.
2. No Rent or Price Control
"I certify that the existing housing is not subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity's valid exercise of its police power."
This one is straightforward for most Anaheim properties — Anaheim doesn't have local rent control. But it matters if your property has a unit that fell under any city or county rent stabilization ordinance, or if the property was part of a program that imposed price controls as a condition of approval.
For comparison, this certification is where properties in cities like Santa Ana become ineligible — Santa Ana's 3% rent control cap covers a broad swath of rental units built before 1995, and those properties cannot pursue an Urban Lot Split under SB9.
Anaheim owners are generally clear here, but it's worth confirming — especially on older properties or anything with a complicated ownership or program history.
3. No Ellis Act Withdrawal in the Last 15 Years
"I certify that as the owner of this residential real property, I have not exercised my rights under Chapter 12.75 (commencing with Section 7060) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the California Government Code to withdraw accommodations from rent or lease within 15 years before the date of this application."
Chapter 12.75 is California's Ellis Act — the state law that allows landlords to go out of the rental business by withdrawing a property from the rental market entirely. If you or a prior owner used the Ellis Act to remove tenants and take the property off the rental market, SB9 is off the table for 15 years from that withdrawal.
This is the longest lookback on the form and the one most owners don't think to check. If you acquired the property in the last decade and it had prior owners, you need to verify whether any Ellis Act notice was ever filed. That information is typically available through county records or a title search.
4. No Tenant Occupancy in the Last Three Years
"I certify that the existing housing has not been occupied by a tenant in the last three years."
This is the one that catches the most people off guard.
It doesn't matter if the tenant left amicably. It doesn't matter if the tenancy ended two and a half years ago. If anyone was renting any unit on the property within the three years before your application date, the lot is not eligible for an Urban Lot Split under SB9.
This rule exists at the state level — it's built directly into SB9 — and Anaheim's ordinance mirrors it. The intent is to prevent investors from evicting tenants specifically to pursue a lot split. But it applies equally to owners who had a legitimate tenancy end naturally. The three-year clock starts from the last day of occupancy, not the day you decided to pursue SB9.
Understanding how tenant history affects your options before you commit to a development strategy is critical. If you're buying a property with the intention of doing an Urban Lot Split, this is one of the first questions to answer in due diligence — and it's one you need the seller to document, not just describe verbally.
Why This Form Matters More Than It Looks
The self-certification is signed under penalty of perjury. That's not boilerplate — it's the enforcement mechanism. If you certify that your property has had no tenant occupancy in three years and the city later determines that's false, you're not just looking at an application denial. You're looking at potential legal exposure.
It also means that if you're unsure about any of these four points, you shouldn't be initialing. You should be researching — or having someone research it for you — before the form ever gets signed.
For buyers specifically: if you're acquiring a property in Anaheim with the intent to do an Urban Lot Split, these four items need to be part of your pre-offer due diligence, not something you sort out after you're in escrow. What to check before buying an investment property in Orange County or LA should include a direct inquiry into each of these disqualifiers for any property where SB9 is part of the value thesis.
What Happens After the Self-Certification
Assuming your property clears all four certifications, the self-certification form gets submitted with the rest of your Urban Lot Split application to the Anaheim Planning and Building Department at 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., Suite 162.
From there, the application is reviewed under Chapter 18.62 (Administrative Reviews) — a ministerial process, meaning the city can't deny an eligible application based on subjective design or neighborhood character concerns. If you meet the objective standards, it gets approved.
The full development standards for an Urban Lot Split in Anaheim include:
Minimum existing lot size of 3,000 sq ft
New lot must be at least 40% of the original lot
Minimum 25-foot lot width abutting a street
Owner must occupy one of the lots as a principal residence for at least three years from approval date (a separate covenant is recorded to enforce this)
All new units must comply with Two-Unit Development standards: 400–800 sq ft, 4-foot side and rear setbacks, 16-foot max height for detached construction
Rentals must be for terms longer than 30 days — no short-term rentals on SB9 lots
The ownership-occupancy requirement is worth calling out separately: unlike the self-certification's backward-looking tenant test, this one is forward-looking. You're committing to live on one of the parcels for three years post-approval. That has real implications for how the deal is structured, who can do the project, and what the exit looks like.
The Bigger Picture in Anaheim
Anaheim is one of the more active SB9 markets in Orange County right now. The lot sizes in many of Anaheim's single-family neighborhoods are large enough to support a viable split, and the rental demand in the market is strong enough to make the math work. The latest Anaheim ADU market data shows what buyers are paying and what the income potential looks like on recently developed properties.
Corner lots in particular tend to be the strongest SB9 candidates in Anaheim — they offer better lot geometry for splitting, more flexibility on access and unit placement, and typically satisfy the 40% minimum lot size requirement more cleanly than interior parcels.
The four-unit play that investors are running — lot split plus two units on each new parcel — is well-documented in how investors are building $10K/month income stacks with SB9 and ADUs in LA County. The structure is the same in Anaheim; the income numbers will vary by location and unit mix.
The self-certification is the first checkpoint. It's not the complicated part of an SB9 project — but it is the part where applications fail for reasons that could have been caught before anyone spent money on plans or consultants.
Know what you're signing before you sign it.
Have a property in Anaheim you're evaluating for an Urban Lot Split? Reach out — I work specifically with ADU and SB9 properties in Orange County and can help you determine eligibility before you commit to a development path.
