Building and Living Legally in Tiny Homes
Good News: Laws and attitudes concerning tiny homes are changing. Not fast but it’s moving in the right direction.
With the adaption of Appendix-Q into the International Building Code, many municipalities now have a category specifically for tiny homes. Well, six categories actually.
But which of the six categories will your build fit into?
- Which codes do you use if you build on a foundation?
- Do I need RVIA Certification?
- What if I outgrow my tiny house and need to sell it?
- How many governmental agencies have to be dealt with in my particular situation?
You need a lawyer to give you the correct advice
Building, Occupying and Selling Tiny Homes Legally is the book you need to answer all of your questions. The author, Jenifer Levini, is a housing and real estate lawyer. After being inundated by hundreds of phone calls from people trying to understand what is safe, legal to build, to buy, and to live in, she wrote this book in plain English.
Jenifer says,
“Whether they are built on wheels or on a foundation, tiny homes are among the most highly regulated buildings. This convenient, easy-to-use resource provides a comprehensive analysis of the six types of tiny homes, and links you directly to the laws you’ll need to know whether you’re building, occupying, selling, or buying a tiny home including looking for a place to park it.
Building, Occupying, and Selling Tiny Homes Legally transforms tiny home living from an outlaw fringe philosophy to a law-abiding, safe lifestyle that can be embraced by mainstream families who want to live sustainably and affordably.”
“Housing lawyer Jenifer Levini easily explains which rules to follow for each type of tiny home, what needs to be documented, where you can put a tiny home, interpreting the law’s technical jargon, and understanding its practical applications to real-world scenarios.
Tips for passing inspections and building safely guide you and give you the confidence to go tiny. Each chapter is followed by questions making this text an ideal resource for teachers, students, professionals transitioning from the building trades to the tiny home industry and tiny home enthusiasts.”
Safety is the most important thing
This book helped me understand that safety is often overlooked in the quest for making a tiny homes cute, or building supplies less expensive. Safety is the most important thing – it’s whether or not you will survive in an emergency. The book emphasizes that the entire reason there are housing laws is for safety. They are the minimum that builders must do. A legal house is a safe house. Jenifer also explains how this applies to other potential homes such a tree houses, shipping containers, sheds, and yurts. Jenifer’s purpose in writing isn’t to enforce laws, it’s to protect us from our natural tendencies to cut corners to save a buck.
About Jenifer Levini, Esq.
Jenifer lives in a “factory-built” home in Santa Cruz, Calif. She is a housing, real estate, land use, and business attorney who sees tiny homes as part of the solution for making housing affordable and providing sustainable living opportunities. Her law firm is Levini Law. She is a founding member of Caring Strangers, a nonprofit that provided school supplies and winter clothes for homeless children. Jenifer is the president and founder of Wishomes, a consulting company helping to make all tiny homes safe and legal. She is a tireless proponent of the tiny home community.
Order Building, Occupying and Selling Tiny Homes Legally thru these helpful links
With the detailed table of contents I was able to navigate to the sections that pertained to my areas of interest and get accurate information fast. I had to amend some sections of my website to make it more accurate.
Currently this book is being used at University of California, Santa Cruz’s Tiny House Design Lab class which is part of the Sustainable Building and Architecture pathway.
The book is available in digital Kindle format and paperback from Amazon.com.
Here are some other pages and posts on the Tiny Life Consulting website you may be interested in:
2021 International Tiny House Provisions
How to be Proactive with Building Codes and Zoning Laws
Hello thank you for this website . Looks like you have put a lot of effort into creating this site. I was talking to your wife at the tiny house show this past weekend and I am really interested in where I can put a tiny house. Was hoping for some tips. Do you have a section I am missing on tiny house communities, buying land etc? Thanks!
See the tiny village directory at the bottom of this page: https://tinylifeconsulting.com/building-a-tiny-house-village/