Tiny House

Hi All, I'm new to this formum, but I've been interested on permaculture since 2005
I live in Northern Italy and would like to know if there are wild places in US where you can build a Tiny House without asking permission from the Authority. If so, could someone please tell me any of these places?
Thanks and regards, Roby

If you ask the answer will be no.

in many jurisdictions, a building under 200 square feet does not require a permit unless it is going to be a residence. as I understand it, that means it can't have indoor plumbing. don't take my word for it, though.

My understanding was the original poster wanted to build without buying the land.

If you're just wanting to be able to build without getting a building permit there are lots of places left without zoning and permitting. That was one of the reasons I bought land where I did in the 1980's. No zoning, no permitting, etc.

Hi Walter, thanks for your answer.
You're saying; "there are lots of places left without zoning and permitting"; could you pleas tell me (with google maps if you like) where some of these places are?

I don't know of any central source maps for that. What I did over 20 years ago was call all the towns where I was considering buying property and find out what their regulations, zoning, permitting, etc was like. I made my own map on paper of this, drew circles around the resources I wanted to be near and then looked for intersections. Venn Diagrams. It is possible that now in the internet age there are some online mapping sources for this but I don't know of any.

Walter,

just write the name of the state and in which area is it, I'll do the rest.

Thank you again, ciao.

Anywhere in Arizona as long as it is not in a city limit you dont need any permits, however AZ is mostly desert.
I know that in Missouri and a few other states in the midwest you can build with no permits.
Anyhwere that allows mobile homes you could in theory get a used mobile home for $10,000 and then only get a sewer permit.
(In some places if you state that you do Humanure you get exempted) After that you could just do "improvements"

There are relatively wild places in northern New Hampshire, and individuals who exercise the freedom to build a tiny dwelling on their own land seem to be tolerated at least as far south as Grafton. However, land isn't cheap, property taxes are outrageously high and unless your tiny house is mobile or hidden it's subject to increasing the assessed value of the property. Though that may change depending on the political climate of New Hampshire and the relative success of the Free State Project in particular.

I used to live in NH but chose to move out because the property taxes are onerous and they were at the time highly anti-homeschooling. Since then I have read that the homeschooling laws have improved but the taxes are just as bad.

We chose Vermont which is very similar climate and geography. There are a number of towns in Vermont, and NH, with no zoning or other regulations. Recently the state put through that one must get a septic permit even for properties over 10 acres. Previously properties over 10 acres did not have that.

I would recommend not looking to the urban areas in any state.

Figure out where the resources are that you want, draw circles on the map, check out the towns in the intersections. Visit them. Look around for land being sold by the owner. Owner financing works well for both buyer and seller, have a lawyer draw up the contract and do the title search. This saves a lot of money and keeps even more out of the hands of the bankers. No need to enrich them.

yeah the far north in new england is good for that sort of thing. maine, new hampshire, vermont- but so cold ! it is also some of the most beautiful un inhabited parts of this country....really small towns.

i live in the free state of jefferson =)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_%28Pacific_state%29

also good for this sort of thing, theres lots of alternative houses, shacks, treehouses =)

i consider it the southern tip of cascadia
which is my favorite part of the world that i have seen .

actually in some places around here in the mountains of northern california /southern oregon there arent even any local police forces, or any sort of "services"
for hundred miles +++
on crazy roads, for miles and miles.

but thats more once you head away from the few populated areas, and futher into the mountains. especially Siskiyou, Trinity county, and amazing beautiful wild lands.

theres some cool areas in the south, north carolina, parts of tennesse and those areas where there is little to none of that sort of stuff.

Thanks everyone for this information.
Maybe there are other people with this interest, I suggest to open a new topic in this forum, do you agree?

If you would like to build a tiny house on property without owning it you can build one on my farm if you keep up the plants around you:) We have multiple tiny houses for people who are interested in living sustainably and are always happy to facilitate others dreams.

Your proposal is very interesting Jay, Will you please tell me something more?
e.g.; Where your farm is, what kind of job is "keep up the plants around", etc?
If you want, you can also contact me privately (Private Message - PM) in this forum.
Bye, Roberto.

Nye county in Central Nevada requires only a septic permit. I built a 416sf straw bale home without any building permits at all. I have a composting toilet which eliminated the need for a septic inspection. The aquifer is deep and it is very good water. Beautiful place.

Kim,

It is good to know that our neighbors to the West are more lenient with codes. [Off topic]Will you still have water after Las Vegas dips its prodigious straw into your aquifer, or are you spared that indignity...for now?

Every big city have aqueducts that carry water from"upstate". Sometimes with dams flooding towns and then they call the entire watershed area off limits. They do it here in boston and we get 48inch of rain a year. All the farmers will soon see spring and wells drying up. But Las Vegas does have 1/3 the population so they should get 1/3 the water, RIGHT?

How tiny will your house be will you attach it to a vechile. In theory your RV could break down on BML (gov) land and if there just so happens to be a food forest you could eat .
But really land if cheap you could just buy the land for $5,000 and then park your "RV" and plant your food forest

You are not likely to subsist on BLM land, unless you are an insectivore and willing to move around a lot. You might be able to subsist clandestinely on National Forest land and maybe not get caught.

If you just want a place to hang out, there are a lot more options, but you need to be close to a job, unless you are a remittance man or receiving a pension or a government subsidy.

If you have some money saved up, purchasing land is probably going to work out better in the long run. As always, Buyer Beware!

You may also want to look at Mexico, Central and South America. If I didn't have kids, I might be tempted to get some property in Ecuador (mainly because I have in-laws there, and it is largely a beautiful and fertile place). I would also have to force myself not to talk politics.

Andrew Parker wrote:Will you still have water after Las Vegas dips its prodigious straw into your aquifer, or are you spared that indignity...for now?

I hope so, Andrew. For now this aquifer isn't one of the ones they're targeting, it is owned by the ranches out here primarily. My water is abundant, artesian and soooo good. I'm hoping it doesn't get messed with but feel pretty confident that it will be ok.

Kim

Kim,

I am glad you are not facing a drastic drawdown of your aquifer, at least not immediately. A ground water right is a different animal to a surface water right. Prior use is usually no protection. In any case, enjoy it while you've got it.

Do you know if all the non-urban counties in Nevada have equally relaxed building regulations?

No, Nye county is the only one I know of without a building department and it has one for Pahrump actually. Just the wild places are without it.

S Bengi wrote:Anywhere in Arizona as long as it is not in a city limit you dont need any permits, however AZ is mostly desert.

You will need to check the requirements for each county in Arizona, In Pima County, even the rural parts, we can only build up to 200 sq ft without a permit as long as there is no electric going to it. Once you have utilities or plumbing it needs a permit. I've had the fight with zoning due to nosy neighbors and it is a hassle

Rae