Can I build a tiny house and rent it out as a vacation rental?

[Brandon Monaghan]

I was wondering if anyone on here has experience or insight with this.  I would like to build a unique tiny house on a gorgeous location and rent it out as a vacation rental.  

So any suggestions, comments, insight would be great!

[David Krulac]

@Brandon Monaghan

Before actually spending any money the first thing that I would do is check with the local zoning and codes office.  Many tiny houses are built on trailers with wheel and axles to avoid building codes and be considered a trailer which in many states would have a vehicle license.

The gotcha however is that this still may not avoid/evade codes as many codes don't allow RV, trailers or mobile homes.

It you go the other way and build a Tiny House without a trailer/wheels/axles, then you still have to comply with building codes which in many areas have minimum square footages.  One town where I've done business requires 1,100 sq ft minimum size house, which is not really a Tiny House.

Also in some codes they don't allow rentals for less than 30 days, because that throws you into the hotel class then with more and different regs and taxes.

So cover your bases and check zoning and codes before laying out the cash.