Owners of tiny homes fear eviction
A Canterbury mother-of-two who opted to live in a house bus to make ends meet has appealed to the Government to introduce ‘‘common sense’’ legislation for tiny-home owners.
Charlotte Murray chose the lifestyle two-and-a-half years ago for her and children Evan, 12, and Tessa, 9, in Leeston, southwest of Christchurch, after struggling to maintain a mortgage. She has since been visited twice by the Selwyn District Council and now fears being evicted.
‘‘The first ... [visit was] because of a complaint about the fence on the property I am on. Then they asked me if I lived fulltime here and in the bus. I said ‘yes’ and they said I’m [in] a building then.’’ A few months later another council staff member visited and asked the same questions. She agreed she was living in the bus, but said she took it off site every fortnight to dump the tanks or go on holiday, something that could not be done with a building.
‘‘My son’s school is only 50 metres away. My daughter’s school is around 800m away. I’m part of a community and leaving here would cause me much stress and uproot my kids,’’ she said.
‘‘Why are councils pushing so hard? Shouldn’t I get the choice to live a life that is within my means, if it’s not affecting anyone, and (is) safe and sanitary?’’
Murray was one of several people from the tiny-homes movement to meet Green Party building spokesman Gareth Hughes this week. Hughes heard from tiny-home owners and fabricators, and council representatives from Waimakariri and Selwyn, who expressed confusion over the legalities of tiny homes.
Eco Cottages owner Colin Wightman said recent determinations by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), upholding local councils’ views that tiny homes are buildings, compounded the issue. A vehicle did not come within the jurisdiction of the Building Act unless it was immoveable and permanently occupied, he said. ‘‘Until recent months, MBIE and the courts upheld people’s rights to live in mobilised accommodation units as long as they were on wheels with the ability to be towed and or moved,’’ he said.
‘‘We now have three cases before the courts.’’
‘‘Static caravans sites are common in the UK. In America 17.7 million people live in tiny houses,’’ Wrightman said.