Is a Tiny House for You?
Over the past few years there has been a lot of discussion about tiny houses and downsizers are starting to take particular interest. For “tiny” houses, they seem to come with a large amount of complexity. This is because some tiny houses have wheels and can be moved. This creates a whole new range of rules. The rules also vary by council area.
Tauranga City Council has its own documentation on tiny houses and both Tauranga City Council and Western BOP Council refer to the MBIE’s (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise) Tiny House Guidance for the Building Act 2004 documentation.
According to Tauranga City Council, a tiny house can be a building or a vehicle or both a building and a vehicle. This can be a starting point if you already have a tiny house or a point to pause for thought if thinking of purchasing one. In short, if a tiny house is considered a building then it requires building consent.
Generally speaking, if a tiny house is to be used for permanent or long-term accommodation, is immovable or needs to connect to any services then it is considered a building and requires building consent. Under Tauranga City Council rules the tiny house is likely to be considered an independent dwelling unit and a development fee will apply.
In some cases a resource consent may be required although this can be expensive and is best avoided if possible. In Tauranga, new Medium and High Density Residential Zones being implemented as part of new central government legislation enable three dwellings on site as a permitted activity. This is a new opportunity for those interested in moving to a tiny house or placing one on their existing property. There are current zonings where a minor dwelling can be added without resource consent. Another option is looking for land owners who are willing to lease land to tiny house owners.
The advantages of getting consent and code of compliance include protection against the unexpected; whether it’s financing, an insurance claim, or the confidence that a home meets building standards.
The current coalition government has committed to amending the Building Act and the resource consent system to make it easier to build granny flats or other small structures up to 60m2. Final policy decisions will be made later this year, with the legislative changes expected to be in place from mid-2025.
It seems that the options for downsizing that tiny houses and granny flats offer will continue to increase as the government places a renewed focus on housing. Now is a good time to start learning about the options to take advantage of opportunities that may appear in the future.
These are some useful resources that we have found to get you started: