Florida Department Of Auto Insurance Regulation

This is probably the most common question I get, “Where can you park a tiny house?”.  I have no idea why I haven’t just done a post on this, I’ve answered it individually at least 300 times… So, here is the answer:

You can park it almost anywhere it will fit for at least a little while (ha! not helpful, huh? :)).  Parking and living in a tiny house… Legally… very few places (so far).  The answer to this is pretty much ‘parts of Portland’ as an  to another structure only.  I have heard from Portland folks though that this is even a blurry line, some say it’s still taboo some say they live tiny and have gone through the process of making their tiny ‘legal’.

Where to live is the one major sticking point (understandably) that prevents a lot of people from choosing tiny.  It is a big investment to take for limited security.  This is the ‘grey area’ that you hear a lot of tiny housers having to make themselves comfortable with in order to live the lifestyle.  My feelings are that, in order to effect change, you have to have pressure and a wave of people pushing in order to change feelings/zoning, that is the reason I felt comfortable building even with this grey zone.  I am willing to have that discussion with officials to try to shift the paradigm if/when it comes up (I think it is coming up very soon all across the country, even had 30 planners over to her house just the other day in California!).

Legalities…

So, here is how tiny houses are viewed by the legal entities:  There is currently no ‘tiny house’ classification as codes/zoning see it (I would like that to change), generally they are classified as an RV or mobile home (though you can get them classified as other things depending on location.  I’ve heard of them being classified as a ‘neatly stacked load’ on a utility trailer, or as a semi trailer, neither of which are able to be occupied legally at any time and require different registration/permitting fees).  MOST tiny houses are classified as RV’s (mine included).  Because they are on wheels the building department doesn’t touch them in any location that I’ve heard of so far.  Licensing and registration happen through the transportation department (I personally wish there was some sort of structural analysis required, I have seen far too many sub-par construction techniques used in some tiny houses that I hope I never find myself behind on a freeway…).

Mobile Home: If you are registered as a mobile home you can live full time in a mobile home park legally or in any zone that allows mobile homes (a lot of downtown districts surprisingly are not anti mobile home).  The caveat here is that sometimes the mobile home parks require that the home be built by a licensed manufacturer for safety reasons (understandable), not always but sometimes.  That is a sticky point if you are a DIY tiny houser.  If this is the path that makes sense for you I would encourage you to have the conversation with potential locations prior to starting construction.  This option typically has higher registration and permitting fees (as well as taxation).

RV: If you are registered as an RV then you are legally allowed to live in RV parks.  The same rule above applies here though, a lot of RV parks require you to have a ‘current RV’ manufactured by a certified manufacturer (a lot of tiny house builders are getting licensed to be recognized as ‘certified manufacturers’).   If this is the route you are going and you are having someone else build your tiny home ask them if they are certified.   If you are a DIY it probably isn’t feasible for you to get that certification on your own.

Other Options: The ‘neatly stacked load’ and semi trailers don’t ‘legally’ allow for occupancy no matter where they are.

OK, so you want to live in a tiny house but NOT in a mobile home park or RV park, what are the next options?  ..The ‘Grey Area’…

Well, you now fall into the ‘grey area’.  You are at risk of being told you can’t live somewhere.  In which case, you may be glad your house has wheels… What a good portion of people do is find a location, move there and take the risk that you may be asked to leave.  It does happen… but not that often from what I have heard from others.  In a lot of cases neighbors think it’s cool.  In some, they don’t.  My best advice is, once you find a place, before going through all of the effort of moving your house, knock on doors.  Ask the neighbors if they have any qualms with a tiny house neighbor.   If they do then look for a different place, that is their right.  It is their neighborhood too, and more so because they can’t just move… like you will likely be able to.   It is best to inform everyone PRIOR to getting to invested.  The fact is that most of the laws prohibiting RVs to be lived in full time (most places have time limits on that, here it is 30 days) in zones other than RV parks are only enforced if reported/complained about.  If you’re a good neighbor you will likely have no issues.  Sure there are ways you can get around that… spend the night at a friends house once a month (or however often your time limit is), move forward 10 feet, register as a mobile home rather than an RV etc. but if the neighbors are complaining then it is probably a hostile situation that you don’t want to be in the middle of, you are backing them into a corner and not being a good neighbor = not good for anyone.  The best thing to do is chat with them beforehand to get their feelings on it.  You may be surprised, a lot of people think it’s great!  You’ll never know if you don’t ask though…

Ok, so how do you go about finding a place and what are the options? 

• My favorite option would be to purchase an existing house, one with a large enough yard to park your tiny.  Then, rent out the house to cover that mortgage and live rent free!  I do understand many people get into this as a way to NOT get a mortgage but that is one way to use debt as a tool to propel your own finances forward.  So long as you found a place with the right set-up and the ability to rent it out for more than the mortgage payments would be… buying a piece of property also offers a couple other benefits, first being camouflage.  Plain and simple, the right house will hide a tiny house well.  Second, you MAY be able to take it up with the city to have your tiny house recognized as an ADU if necessary (see above linked info if needed, if this comes up it’s good to site other cities as a reference).
• You can put an ad on Craigslist looking for a place (or look for ads with RV parking).  You’ll want to be specific about what hook-ups you’ll need.  Keep this in mind in your build too, having some hook-ups may limit the places you’ll be able to park.  having a 30 or 50 amp plug for example is not as easy to find as having two 15 amp (standard outlet) plugs.  My house is wired with two separate 15 amp plugs for this reason.  Also having a clean-out required (for a flush toilet for instance) is not as easy to find either.  It can be done but it will be more limiting.
• Go to , look for places in the area you want to live.  This is a new-ish site and it is very hard to engage non-tiny house people who may have property but don’t necessarily know that they could make some extra bucks a month by leasing it out… for this reason, TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS SITE.  There are lots of interested parties that may have the land, like tiny houses but have no intention of downsizing themselves.  You may have a mother/aunt/uncle/friend who lives alone, struggles to pay bills, faces foreclosure etc. (in your state or not) and an extra $300 a month and/or someone near to them who can check in on them would mean a lot… those people need to find this site.  There is no shortage of tiny housers looking for land all across the country who will gladly rent it for cash and/or in exchange for chores. There is a disconnect in finding the property owners that would happily rent the land to them… check this site often for updates and share, share, share!
• started  (TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS SITE) on Facebook for the same purpose, matching tiny housers with hosts.  For all the same reasons above share this site if you know someone that may be interested in hosting a tiny house and making some cash.  It is important to note that in both the Tiny House Parking and the Tiny House Hosting sites the hoster is under no obligation to provide anything extra.  Generally the tiny houser provides monitoring of their own utilities and reimburses that (it is mucho convenient if the hoster has that already though) or utilities can be set at a flat rate, whatever works best for the parties involved.  If the house becomes unwelcome via the host or any neighbors they may still be asked to leave at no risk/expense of the hoster, it’s just one of the risks that the tiny houser takes on when living in the ‘grey area’.  It is a situation that could be mutually beneficial, the hardest part is getting word out to the property owners that they may be able to pull in some rent.
• You can of course buy your own bare property as well.  It is important to note that you may still be asked to leave your own property even though you own it if it is not zoned for an RV/mobile home… it is a risk.  It is MUCH less likely to occur in a rural area which is why you see a lot of rural tiny houses.  In you can also see that the city of Brainerd okayed small houses (their minimum is 500 s.f.) on foundations.  These have to be located on sub-standard lots and on foundations but this could be a very good situation for some.  I will be keeping an eye on this for sure but this will most likely set a precedence which others cities will/could use to do similar things.
• What I was planning on doing prior to finding my current location is to simply knock on doors in the location where I wanted to live.  Because people don’t know much about tiny houses they don’t generally know about the opportunity to make some side income.  Tell people about your project, ask if it would be appealing to make some extra money and host your tiny house.  Make sure they know their rights, they know the risks (and that they know that you know the risks), ask how much they would want (and have an idea how much you want to pay).  You can help by having an image of your house or something similar to what your house would look like.  A good place to start (this is not meant to sound horrible, I realize it might) is with the elderly.  In my experience they are the least judgmental about going with a tiny house because houses used to be tiny, it isn’t foreign to them as often.  Not only that, in a lot of cases they may not live near family and would be comforted knowing someone was near if they needed help… this can build community, you can offer them services they may not otherwise have AND help them with expenses (bypass a reverse mortgage which I HATE the practice of…but that’s a different story).  It seems like the ultimate mutually beneficial situation.
• Also… You can find a place to build your house via these same methods if you don’t have access to one…

It’s important to note that codes/zoning/laws vary a lot by location, these are just the general rules.  I have heard that Michigan is one of the hardest states to live tiny in while Oregon/Washington seem to be among the easiest… If you do choose to live in the grey zone, in my experience it’s the first month that’s the hardest.  Even if you do all your homework, meet all the neighbors, it stinks wondering if anyone will up and change their mind and decide that they don’t want you there.  In all likelihood things will be just fine though, especially if you’ve prepped for it!  And if you have to move, well then you have to move… I have also experienced the fact that finding a place to live isn’t nearly as hard and daunting as it first seems, there are a lot of opportunities out there if you look for them! (and they get easier as you get closer to the end!)

Again, this is my urging for those reading who know others…if you know someone with property and no aversion to tiny houses, maybe a willingness to make a couple/few extra hundred bucks a month share these two sites with them, and there may just be a mutually beneficial relationship to be gained!

My goodness that was a long post, hopefully it helped clear things up, if not it probably muddied them up even further!  I go over processes and options more in my eCourses which you can find . For more info on the state of tiny house codes check out my breakdown .