My grandmother's in-law suite connected to my uncle's home via the laundry room. They had a side entry three car garage and her suite had a small entry porch right next to the third bay. Similar to this plan:

Why not build a short breezeway to connect the two spaces anywhere that works for your floorpan. You can put doors on each end so each person has privacy.

Find out how the Association defines "attached". Here is an example of guest house connected with what I call a dogtrot between the garage of the main structure and the guesthouse. It is shown in two drawings with the same garage shown in both. A guest would have to walk outside, or outside and through the garage, to get into the main house.

You could extend the garage by several feet and create a wider (8' wide) covered hallway/mudroom between the garage and in-law suite that will serve as an entry to both the primary residence and the inlaw suite. Front entrance to the inlaw suite and side/garage entrance to the primary residence.

IF privacy is an issue, you could have an 8'x8' entry on the left end of that hallway with four doors: One exterior door on the left. One the entry door to/from the living room of the in-law suite. One the entry door to/from the garage. One to/from the mudroom of your primary residence lined on at least one side with floor to ceiling and wall to wall cabinets and closets, including a closet for the washer and dryer -- which I gather will be shared. Add another door -- perhaps a half/half door -- at the right end of the hallway/mudroom and the kitchen of the primary residence.

EDITED

If privacy is not an issue, consider putting the only exterior exit door in the living area of the in law suite so you can put your washer and dryer at the end of the hall and open up the entire hall to make the in law suite wider. Then you could put a half/half door only between the in law suite living area and the kitchen.

Bill - It would be useful to know how separated this in-law/guest area will be.... Some of the examples have shared kitchen, laundry, garage; others have a complete unit for the guest space. That will make a difference as to how far away it can/should be situated.

You might actually need to reconsider the location of the washer and dryer for dryer venting purposes.

It seems your concern is that you can't count it as square footage - Right

As opposed to building the plan that you want.

I think people will be more turned off by HOA rules than by the home itself.

I think people will be more turned off by HOA rules than by the home itself.

That's a whole other animal to discuss. Lots of those for and against. I personally am for HOA and am currently building in one.

The concern about square footage stems from appraisers and assessing property. Nothing to do with an HOA and all about county/city/financial institutions.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/query/breezeway/nqrwns

What about connecting it via a breezeway?

Thank you everyone for all the replies and suggestions.

cd7733 is correct in stating "The concern about square footage stems from appraisers and assessing property. Nothing to do with an HOA and all about county/city/financial institutions."

Privacy is wanted, which is why we want the guest house to have all it's own amenities (kitchen, bed, and bath), at worst we could also share a laundry.

I think my biggest question is, does it make sense from an appraisal perspective to make sure we have the units connected by something that is "finished"?

Iwould never build a home in an HOA area and IMO if it is my house my business how it is built for my life. As for sq, footage I think even if for some reason you can’t include it I would think a guest area or in-law suite would still be a good selling point. I like to not have my guests have to go outside to access the main house but if this is more a sepereate space for living full time I think the seperation is a good idea.

Have you checked with an actual appraisal board?

It is not unusual for appraisers to appraise a property with an in-law suite, but it is referred to as an ADU in the appraisal business. ADU = Accessory Dwelling Unit. One of the appraisal boards I am familiar with discusses ADU's from time to time: https://appraisersforum.com

If the requirement for connection is from your HOA, then that is a separate matter. I have always preferred detached ADU's - but those connected by a breezeway seem to have the best of both worlds IMO.

@Bill D Discuss the value with your lender to find out how they appraise detached guest quarters. It would be a huge disappointment to build a detached guest house at $150 a sqft for it to only appraise at $80 sqft.

I agree that smart buyers will not overlook the benefit of this space, whether or not it is included in sq footage. If it does not add value on appraisal for a buyer's lender, most reasonable underwriters will be able to adjust for that upon review. The benefit to you, if not counted as living space, is a huge reduction in taxes (though I find it hard to believe they will just ignore the opportunity to charge you more) so check with your county board. In the end, connect however it makes sense. I WOULD however, create the connection in such a way that would allow for easy, single-level, handicapped future finishing of the access in the case that the occupant (current or future) requires more regular access (elderly parents, accident/disability that requires additional care). If you run it through the garage, for example, build the garage deeper to allow for building walls and doorways later if needed.

The un-attached guest/pool house on our family beach house in Delaware was considered part of the property square footage by the realtor when listed and the buyers appraiser when it sold because it was finished and conditioned. Check with a local realtor or appraiser. If your local tax office doesn't consider it as part of the square footage for assessment purposes that could be a good thing (lower property taxes).

Since you're not building an actual apartment with a separate kitchen, what you're creating is a family room /den off the breakfast nook/kitchen and a bonus room -- a guest bedroom with full bath.

You should quit struggling to redefine that second sitting area and bedroom as anything else and go ahead and put an opening between the breakfast nook and the family room for easy access for your guest to dine with you (rather than requiring your guest/family member to access a dining area of your home through a back hallway with an exposed washer and dryer).

Just outside your breakfast nook, within the area behind the garage, create a hallway -- at least an 8'x8' "hallway". From there, to the right you enter the family room/den (behind which is the bonus room/ guest bedroom with full bath).

Whether you add any door (and/or what kind of door you add) in the opening from the breakfast room to the square hallway and/or from the square hallway to the den should be determined by the degree privacy you want for you and your guest.

Directly across from the opening from the breakfast nook into the square hallway DO add a door to your new mudroom. That hallway/mudroom could lead to your new laundry closet at the far end of the mudroom -- located by the left exterior wall (where the dryer will have an exterior vent).

From this mudroom, you add a door to/from the garage. All the rest of the walls of the mudroom -- wall to wall and floor to ceiling -- can be storage -- whatever kind of storage your family actually needs.

Will your ironing board and iron and cleaning products fit in that 8'x8' laundry closet on the opposite end of the mudroom from the 8'x8' hallway or do you need storage for them.

Do you have enough pantry type storage in your kitchen or do you need storage for that.

Do you need a hat/coat rack or a hall tree or a bench with shoe storage in your mud room.

Do you need storage for tools in your mud room.

Instead of creating a tiny 4'x4' porch for your den and guest room, create a shed roof porch with hip corners over a 6' deep actual porch where chairs can be placed. Add a French door -- or two -- with cold winter triple pane glass rating -- to the family room/den as your ingress/egress exit from that wing of your house to access that porch -- a far quicker entry and far safer exit than making ones way through a narrow hallway cluttered with laundry and storage stuff should a quick entry/exit to that wing of the house be required.

Your den and bonus room / guest bedroom w/ full bath ARE a part of your home just as your inlaw is a part of your family.