Unfortunately legislation around Tiny Homes in New Zealand is a grey area. Councils are required to interpret the building code for something that does not fit. Across NZ and even depending on who you talk to in the councils can yield different interpretations. We can offer some advise.

Remain Temporary

• Ensure a plumber or electrician is not needed to disconnect services eg push fit plumbing connection and caravan plug.

• Keep decks disconnected from the house.

• In our opinion the house is best to be ready to move in a couple of hours from its normal setup.

Talk with neighbours

• Talk with all your neighbours and anyone that has anything to do with your property e.g. shared driveway and ensure they are on board with what you are doing. The council has to engage with any complaints.

Documentation

• Get plans drawn up professionally and document the process. If you do get asked questions in the future and set of well organised and through documents will usually help.

• Get plumbing and electrical certificates.

How risk adverse are you?

Lets talk grey areas or the sliding grey scale. Light grey safer and darker grey more risk.

Lighter Grey

Under 3.5T

Under 2.55m

WOF & Rego

Sitting on wheels with corner steadies

Grey and black water containment

Get building code compliance

Fully road legal eg brakes, lights, suspension etc

Similar to caravan or tiny house

Darker Grey

Over 3.5T

2.55m - 3.1m

No WOF & Rego

House sitting on blocks

Users local approved septic

DIY

Site trailer with fixed axles and coupling only for site use

Similar to tiny house

Grey

Over 3.1m

House on screw piles

DIY system

Similar to relocatable building

Remarks

Over 3.5T in NZ legally needs to be moved on truck or similar

WOF and Rego sometimes helps but not commonly, safe bet to have at minimal expense.

We see screw piles as semi permanent

Questionable to where this stands currently

This table may not always reflects everyone’s situations and is more laid out as a guide.

THOW Court Case

Alan Dall’s count case was a small game changer for tiny houses on wheels in New Zealand. See other cases here.

Alan Dall vs MBIE

This court case has paved the way for 2.55 to 3.1m wide tiny houses on wheels in NZ. This from Lane Neave Lawyers. Link to Building Performance case.

In 2018, Hurunui District Council (Council) issued Alan Dall an “order to fix” under the Building Act in relation to his tiny home.  Mr Dall’s tiny home consisted of a trailer and a dwelling constructed on top of the trailer.  Both the Council and MBIE determined that the Building Act applied to his tiny home.  Mr Dall disagreed and appealed to the District Court.

Was the structure a vehicle or a building?  The Court found that the structure was a vehicle because it was equipped with wheels, axles, brakes, a drawbar and a trailer hitch enabling it to be used on the road.  This differed from other cases where structures had axles, wheels and tow-bars that were moveable around a property but not designed for road use.  These structures were found to be relocatable buildings.

Was it immovable?  The Court found that the structure was not immovable because its design and components enabled it to be attached to a vehicle and relocated with relative ease, it had a valid registration and WOF, it was self-contained and incapable of being fixed to the ground, there was evidence it had previously been relocated, and it was indistinguishable in any material way from a caravan.

On this basis, the Court found that the structure did not come within the Building Act definition of “building”, therefore the Act’s requirements did not apply.