Tiny Houses

Training for: Legal Notes

Tiny houses (dwellings with less than 400 square feet in floor area, often but not always on wheels) have been gaining in popularity nationwide for about a decade now, including here in Maine.

Advocates argue that tiny houses, which often look like miniature versions of traditional full-size homes, are more affordable and ecologically friendly than conventional housing and are ideal as vacation or retirement homes or accessory dwellings. Skeptics, however, voice concerns about occupant health and safety and neighborhood property values and dismiss the tiny-house movement as a passing fad.

We are neither “for” nor “against” tiny houses (though we do find them cute and the idea of actually living in one intriguing). But the fact is that most zoning and land use ordinances and building codes are inhospitable to tiny houses and would need to be amended in order to permit them. Whether this would be good public policy, however, is a local matter, about which, again, we express no opinion.

For municipalities and local officials wishing to explore the possibilities, though, there are some excellent Maine-centered resources on the Maine Building Officials and Inspectors Association (MBOIA) website at https://www.mboia.org/. Scroll down the left margin and click on “Tiny Homes – Presentation 1,” “Tiny Homes – Presentation 2” and “MUBEC Tiny Home Exemption – APPENDIX 5.” (By R.P.F.)

Tiny houses (dwellings with less than 400 square feet in floor area, often but not always on wheels) have been gaining in popularity nationwide for about a decade now, including here in Maine.

Advocates argue that tiny houses, which often look like miniature versions of traditional full-size homes, are more affordable and ecologically friendly than conventional housing and are ideal as vacation or retirement homes or accessory dwellings. Skeptics, however, voice concerns about occupant health and safety and neighborhood property values and dismiss the tiny-house movement as a passing fad.

We are neither “for” nor “against” tiny houses (though we do find them cute and the idea of actually living in one intriguing). But the fact is that most zoning and land use ordinances and building codes are inhospitable to tiny houses and would need to be amended in order to permit them. Whether this would be good public policy, however, is a local matter, about which, again, we express no opinion.

For municipalities and local officials wishing to explore the possibilities, though, there are some excellent Maine-centered resources on the Maine Building Officials and Inspectors Association (MBOIA) website at https://www.mboia.org/. Scroll down the left margin and click on “Tiny Homes – Presentation 1,” “Tiny Homes – Presentation 2” and “MUBEC Tiny Home Exemption – APPENDIX 5.” (By R.P.F.)