‘Tiny’ laws: Understand the regulations on your tiny home

The tiny house movement may be popular, but it is also important to know whether a jurisdiction allows the dwelling a potential buyer wants and which banks will offer financing, and to know about insurance and other concerns.

Janet Thome, a tiny house consultant, said she has offered advice and guidance on laws to would-be buyers for about six years, and now works out of her home in a tiny town in Grant County. (She requested the location be unidentified.)

“It’s quite exciting what’s going on,” she said of a 2019 House bill passed in Washington that applies to recreational vehicles and mobile homes, and another law that will go into effect next year, Appendix Q, which refers to tiny houses on a foundation, 400 square feet or smaller.

The homes also must be approved by local jurisdictions, as in Soap Lake, which passed its law in 2016 “to encourage single units and clusters of tiny homes on city lots,” Thome wrote in a blog.

“The minimum requirement is 200 square feet, and the maximum requirement is 1,000 square feet,” she continued, regarding Soap Lake. “At this time, wheels need to be taken off, but they are very open to changes and willing to have an open conversation to make it work for everyone.”

Thome said she began in the business by selling homes in Idaho, but moved on when she felt her calling elsewhere.

“I don’t like to give them (clients) personal advice,” she said. “I say, go to the local jurisdiction.”

She decided to work for herself about a year ago, and in October received nonprofit designation for Tiny House Alliance USA, www.tinyhouseallianceusa.org.

“I’m trying to get all of the resources in one place,” she said.

The site has information about laws, builders, for veterans, and other items, with a mission of building “tiny houses with collaborative partners and to foster and transform vacant, abandoned, and distressed properties into vibrant tiny home communities that will transform neighborhoods into a valuable asset for the community,” according to the site.

But before that, people need to know the laws, she said.

In one instance, she described a client who had purchased a $120,000 tiny home in Stevens County, but hadn’t gone through the state Department of Labor & Industries to obtain approval when the home was built and was forced to sell the home to someone in Oregon, where laws were more lenient. Washington requires tiny homes be inspected several times during certain stages, according to the L&I website. Thome mentioned the state doesn’t allow for third-party organizations to inspect, either.

Besides laws, Thome said financing a tiny home can be tricky, with few banks willing to give toward a dwelling that until recently wasn’t exactly legal and still has no universal definition. Wells Fargo, she said, was one that offered financing. People must have great credit, she said, and if the dwelling met criteria for an RV, they might go to their credit union. She added part of her goal was to encourage more banks to offer financing for tiny homes.

An option for some is nonprofit Operation Tiny Home, which offered up to $12,000 in a matching grant for military members and/or spouses, law enforcement, firefighters, pre-K-12 teachers, and/or people with a hardship, such as COVID-19, natural disaster, illness, aging out of foster care, disability and surviving spouse of a military member or “public protector,” according to its website, operationtinyhome.org.

And, Thome said anyone could benefit from tiny living, especially due to COVID-19.

“I think tiny homes are one of the most positive things in our world right now,” she said. “Tiny houses are also the perfect isolation solution right now.”