LD 1981

Passed On March 18, 2020

Background:

The passage of LD 1981 ‘An Act Regarding the Regulation of Tiny Homes’ came about because the Secretary of State’s Office thought the current statute should be updated to include the regulation of Tiny Homes (this page is referring to tiny homes on wheels only).

There was a lot of effort put forth between the Tiny Home industry and the Secretary of State’s Office to come to an agreement on the following language for LD 1981.

Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA §101, sub-§80-C  is enacted to read:

80-C.  Tiny home.   "Tiny home" means a living space permanently constructed on a frame or chassis and designed for use as permanent living quarters that:

A.  Complies with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard A119.5 on plumbing, propane, fire and life safety and construction or National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard 1192 on plumbing, propane and fire and life safety for recreational vehicles;

B.  Does not exceed 400 square feet in size;

C.  Does not exceed any dimension allowed for operation on a public way under this Title; and

D.  Is a vehicle without motive power.

You can view the full detail of LD 1981 here and read the testimonies given during the public hearing here.

Moving forward:

Any Maine town can opt to allow placement of a Tiny Home on a piece of property as a primary residence or accessory dwelling by citing the definition of ‘Tiny Home’ in title 29-A. Maine, being a home rule state, gives towns the authority to allow Tiny Homes. If the town’s interpretation of the use of a Tiny Home conflicts with the current zoning rules or land use regulations, then the rules can be updated to include Tiny Homes and their permitted uses.

The following guidance comes from the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Office of the Attorney General as of Friday April 10, 2020.

The regulation of “tiny homes,” as defined in 29-A, is to be the exclusive purview of the Secretary of State through the statutes of Title 29-A. As such, municipal code enforcement officers do not play a role in inspecting “tiny homes.” It is safe to assume that any living space that is issued a tiny home title has been determined by the Secretary of State to meet the statutory definition of a tiny home and is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Secretary of State, not subject to inspection by municipal code enforcement officers.

To simplify, if a tiny home has a title from the Secretary of States Office it is not under the jurisdiction of a local code official except for zoning. The title is going to read tiny home and it would have to meet NFPA 1192 or ANSI A119.5 (recreational vehicle standards). This will be determined by the Secretary of State and will not require an inspection by a local building official. If the tiny home is built on site or does not have a title issued by the Secretary of State it would fall under typical building code jurisdiction.

Approaching your town:

In the past, municipalities struggled with fitting Tiny Homes into the existing building code inspection and compliance process. Now they don’t have to (per the guidance above). Even though we do build our units to both RV standards and IRC Appendix Q building codes there isn’t a process that exists to certify Tiny Homes for both.

Your town can choose how they want to include Tiny Homes in their zoning rules, but you should not have to worry about building code enforcement for “state certified” Tiny Homes.

UPDATE: In 2021 we had another law passed which makes Tiny Homes, per the definition above, accepted STATEWIDE!!!!! See details below.

Financing Tiny Homes:

The State of Maine will issue a title for Tiny Homes that meet the definition in Title 29-A and it your tiny home will be place in Maine. Typically a title is required for your bank so they can be listed as the lienholder. Check out our lenders.

We hope you found this information useful and we will continue to try to remove the barriers to make tiny living easier for you:)