There is no shortage of confusion about Tiny House living. Some focuses around what exactly a Tiny House is; especially when built on a trailer. Some confusion is centered on the obstacles of where to put the Tiny House. And then there are those obstacles that come about for those who intend on living full time for not defined amount of time in a tiny house. Wonderland has nothing on tiny house living, in my opinion.
Let’s first talk about some obstacles that come about when wanting to live in your tiny house in any community other than Death Valley, CA or Taos, New Mexico. Let’s think more Anycity, Anystate.
- My neighborhood doesn’t allow RVs – This is probably the most oft heard complaint. Is a tiny house on wheels a recreation vehicle? Depending on your municipality it may be so simply because it is on an axle. Nevermind the square footage or the trailer size. The key is that it is on a trailer less than 12 feet wide which means it is an RV.
- I don’t own my own land – True some municipalities have residential parameters in which a home must sit on a certain size lot. Our old county required you to own .55 acres to live and 2 full acres to build new construction.
- We’re only temporary – This again puts you in the RV category. If you are going to pull up shop every couple of weeks you may want to consider your campground/state park options rather than inner-city ones.
- The law says…. – Who knows what the law says. In our research I have come to learn that most local officials don’t even understand zoning codes. Many are antiquated. The best thing to do is get a local politician to understand your cause and support it so he/she can walk through the process with you as an advocate.
Let’s say for argument sake though that as a tiny houser you don’t regard the law all that much and you are willing to find a way to make your dream come true in Anycity, Anystate, USA. Here are some common concessions.
- Backyardigans – Illegally park in someone’s backyard within the city limits. You would, of course, have to have a willing homeowner with said backyard as well as very kind, quiet neighbors. Perhaps an enhancement to this would be to make your Tiny House as inconspicuous and as charming as possible so as to define yourself as “recreating” rather than squatting.
- Go westward, young man! – You don’t have to move literally to the west but somewhere more rural, outside of city limits would be advantageous. This way you have less neighbors to be concerned with and usually more slack zoning ordinances.
- Co-Housing Community – I am going to admit that while I have not seen one of these I have heard of them. I have heard a lot about them actually but have yet to seen one come to fruition. I would imagine that such a community would have to be built much like any other housing development complete with rules, laws, and neighbors!
- Hit the RV park – When Crystal and I were on the road in August and September we encountered a large number of campgrounds that were discouraging long stays. Whereas snowbirds used to be able to rent a spot for months the current economy has some RV parks sustaining from long term camping so as not to come across an awkward situation in which a person literally lives at the campground. This option may be more difficult now than it was 5 years ago.
- Change the law – I am all for reform and I think that it is overdue time for tiny house dwellers to unite and find political rally. The economy is getting no better. Downsizing is a regular trending topic and Tiny Houses have fast become media darlings.
For us the largest consideration has not been the land as we own our own acre. It has not been zoning, per se, as we are zoned rural residential. It is the electric that we will need (for one year, at least) and the sewage we don’t need. We will be using a composting toilet and our grey water will go through a leech pit and then irrigation system; all maintained by us. In order to be permitted for electricity though we need to have a reason why we need it. They will gladly give us temporary but to make it permanent we have to have a free-standing building. No camping is allowed in our community. So herein lies the rub.
Any thoughts? Many days this blog is about me sharing our experiences and our successes. Now we share our fears. We don’t want to lose our dream and be held up on a small clause. We haven’t gotten a great deal of understanding or cooperation from our local politicians either. So what would you do? Have you seen the legal waters be successfully navigated by a tiny houser? Do tell!
Since 2009 we have been working hard to promote the tiny house lifestyle across a number of platforms.
Drew, so many rules and regulations. It makes a person just want to go find a cave some where but of course there’s probably a rule against that too. What really grits my teeth are those that move into an area near a farm, for example, then want to change the rules about how the farmer, who’s been there his life, can run his farm. With the urban sprawl that happens more than I’d like to think about.
I’m a little confused about whether this tiny house is a permanent place for you to live or a temporary place until to find your own place to live.
Anyway have a great tiny house day.
You are absolutely right Dave. There are a ton of rules and regs. And just when you think you understand them all, there are more! Yeah, unless you could hook your cave up to a septic system and have it appraised for tax purposes, you are probably illegal! You are so right about the folks who move in. I grew up in the vicinity of a rather large airstrip. It had been there for over 20 years when a developer decided to build some McMansions RIGHT THERE! But that was not the issue. The issue was the new residents decided the planes were too loud and actually brought a lawsuit against the airstrip to have it removed. Unbelievable.
So, the tiny house. We currently live in a small cottage (read: converted woodshop) that we call “The Bungalow.” That is our temporary residence until we are done building our tiny house. And yes, that will be our permanent residence. We do call it a modular home in the truest sense of the word because if we need it to we can expand on it and make it fit our families needs.
As always, thanks for reading Dave! Always a pleasure.
AH, rules and laws! Our cottage is in a small lake community and we have an HOA with rules, but at least they’re not too strict and they only enforce if your neighbors complain. I can’t have chickens (unless I hide them well) but they don’t care if I keep bees or grow tomatoes in my front yard. Still it’s annoying. This is why Mr Chiots and I are pinching our pennies and saving up for 100 acres here in rural Carroll Co. Ohio where rules are very uncommon – heck they don’t even have any building codes.
Can’t wait to see what the new tiny house looks like when finished!
Neither can we! HAAHAHAH. We can’t wait to see it. It has been a very long process so far but we will persevere. It is amazing what laws our government will create to assure tax revenue.
I don’t know if you mean you’ve never seen a cohousing community made up of RV’s—in which case, I don’t think one does exist yet—or if you’ve never seen a cohousing community at all. I assure you, they exist in the US, and have done for 20 years! I’ve lived in cohousing since 1993. Here’s the national website: http://www.cohousing.org/
I am referring specifically to Tiny House co-housing communities. I am fairly aware of the cohousing community, in general, but thank you so much for the link. I enjoyed reading more about it.
Cohousing appears to be some kumbaya thing for rich yuppies. $300,000 for part of a house? Yeah right…
There is a tiny house community in San Diego and in the mountains of NC somewhere.
I don’t know the rules but am struggling with getting a small illegal unit up to the standards of Santa Rosa City code. It seems to me that a small, green unit, like a tiny house should be allowed and encouraged considering the problem with affordable housing. Why can’t people simply live…why is it so complicated? robin m
Robin, if I knew, I would tell you. Trust me when I say you are NOT alone. I am as frustrated as you.
Why can’t people just live??? Simple. PEOPLE!
What if you build a “shop” that needs power and use it for storage. That will get you power and then you can pull up along side it and live. Home Depot sells kits for shops of varying size. I have looked inside some of them with the idea of living. They are quite affordable and stick built. Living small, you will probably need storage space for bulky items that you do not need year round.
Excellent idea Jandaclark. We would buy one as it is well within our abilities to build one and we have had penned this in our overall plan for our land. I think we have found the answer to the power issue as we have chicken coops and will have a goat shed on our land. Our chickens love watching TV and our goats end the day in a whirlpool – both of which need electricity. HAHAHAHA. Seriously though, they will be our key ingredients to “an agricultural power feed.”
I wish the only hurdle that was in my way was electricity! That’s relatively easy to solve. See my blog for details, especially use the search function for “cheaper photovoltaics”
I like your “Change the Law” – Its what the Civil Rights folks did resulting in Fair Housing exactly 43 years ago in April, 1968.
Our tiny home with wheels wasn’t well received by some neighbors (some others were thought it was really cute however – that’s a great advantage :). We hired a land-use lawyer expert to advise us and he said we are within our rights, but do we really want the legal fight? So we moved it to a less conspicuous, but less desirable spot on our 1 acre property – neighbors are quiet for now.
We are not done however.
It’s a housing justice issue pure and simple. So we are going to buy some more vacant land, move another tiny home there and take a stand on purpose. We’ll invite teh media, document the process, and create a counter-argument for all the discriminatory non-fact based fears we’ve already heard here and elsewhere. If we can live simply without noise or waste pollution off grid, then what’s the real issue? (other than selfish property values?)…Like the pioneers of our past, we need to circle the prairie schooner wagons. Here we go!
Count us in. You have the Tiny r(E)volution on your side for sure. And when I come, I come with force!
Count me in too! Make sure to contact “Tiny House Blog” as well. They will come in force!
I really want to build & own a tiny house, however I have a large family that includes my 3 children, my mother-in law, brother-in law, plus my husband & me. Is it even possible to have a tiny house big enough for a family that is within the laws?
The truth is Dani that tiny houses are relative to its inhabitants. What is tiny to one person may be HUGE to another. The point is to minimize your lifestyle, downsize, learn what you NEED to live and not always what you want, minimizing your carbon footprint, etc. Perhaps a renovation or a reorganization would fit your family better.
I am thinking about all this constantly. Drew, if you know a fresher thread going about this topic, please point me there.
I am also ready to round up the ‘wagons’ and sit at: city council, neighborhood assn, call my congressperson… whatever. So many people ask me how to site, how to insure, how to get a loan… Let’s get some glue to our discussions, yes? As for me, I am willing to help with plumbing, electrical, and RV code questions.
A couple decades ago, you could hardly find organic food… now, it is getting pretty ubiquitous. Likewise, living in a tiny house isn’t for everyone (yet) but it should be as accessible. It’s perniciousness in public discourse proves it to be more than a passing fad!
I don’t know if there is a fresher thread. I know Andy Hawkins over at Tiny White North is trying to put together an active and solid (and even moderated) forum for tiny houses. I am not sure how far along that is though.
We could round up the wagons literally and figuratively, huh? HAHAHAHAH
I don’t know where you are, but can you go solar and perhaps mix that with a small wind turbine?
Yes. We certainly go solar. The initial expense is prohibitive right now though. As for wind. No, not in the Southeast region. It just isn’t a strong investment.
go Solar!.
Put up a small solar array on your property.
this will give the electric company a reason to put power to your land. (and give you a nice little tax break to boot!)
We personally have had power now since 2011 with no problems. A small solar array is not in our budget for 2013 and our 30 ft. trailer requires a little more than a small system. Great suggestion though!
Can’t you use solar?