A house or a bus?

There is no unified, central law concerning tiny homes specifically. Currently, every council is applying the 2004 Building Act to tiny homes, but each one can interpret the act differently.

There have been cases up and down the country of people building what they believe to be legally defined vehicles, only to be stung with council fees after they are ruled to be buildings.

Under the Tasman District Council’s resource management plan, for example, any structure lived in for more than two months in one year is considered a building, subject to resource consent requirements.

Many tiny-home builders are dobbed in by neighbours after parking their homes on a property without having applied for resource consent. More than one case has gone before a judge, with varying decisions as to whether the tiny home is a building or a vehicle.

The key section of the 2004 act is section 8, which sets out tdefinitions of the word ‘‘building’’ and includes ‘‘a vehicle or motor vehicle (including a vehicle or motor vehicle as defined in section 2(1) of the Land Transport Act 1998) that is immovable and is occupied by people on a permanent or long-term basis’’.

This definition has led to Selwyn District Council deeming a bus a building, even though the owner-occupier drove it offsite every fortnight.

There have been calls from tiny-home owners around the country to simplify or streamline the rules to cut through the confusion, including a ‘‘tinyhome hikoi’’ in Wellington, which presented a petition to Salesa.