4 ms·

Exactly. In California every county I've researched thus far prohibits living in a home on your own land that's not on a permanent foundation, unless there is

Exactly. In California every county I've researched thus far prohibits living in a home on your own land that's not on a permanent foundation, unless there is a home under construction on that lot and the mobile home is merely temporary housing (if any of you know of any counties in California that don't prohibit this, please let me know). I've even looked at counties quite far from the populated metro areas, and I've encountered the same restrictions while reading their zoning laws. Even the jurisdictions that have allowed "tiny homes" typically only allow those on a permanent foundation and must be registered as ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and not as main properties on the lot. I live in an apartment near Silicon Valley and would love to have a house with a garage for hobbies, but buying a house anywhere near the area in a safe location is prohibitively expensive for me; I'd have to go either deep in the Central Valley (think Fresno County and beyond), the Sierra Foothills, or the Mojave Desert to find affordable places.

ethbr0 4y ago
Since you seem to have researched this, how does "permanent foundation" interface with the structure on top of it, legally? I.e. what does zoning say if you pour a concrete slab, drop a mobile home on it, and then bolt the home down (for some definition of bolt)?
- linguae 4y ago
  I'm not an expert on building codes, but here are my assumptions based on what I've read thus far regarding zoning for residential properties: 1. The structure built on top of the permanent foundation must comply with the building codes of the municipality that the permanent foundation is located in. This requires obtaining permit(s) before bolting the structure onto the foundation. 2. The municipal planning department will have some definition for what would be a legally permissible foundation and what constitutes "bolting down." There are many companies that specialize in the building of mobile and manufactured homes that are compliant with state- and local-level building codes. But it's very important that people do their proverbial homework, making sure that the mobile/manufactured home does truly comply with the regulations of the intended permanent location.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    That tracks. My understanding is that part of the genesis of mobile homes was the industry lobbying for exclusions to residential building codes "because mobile homes are mobile." So I'd expect any mobile home (read: excluding prefab or factory-built) would fail a standard code check.
mcbishop 4y ago
The city of Oakland recently legalized tiny houses on wheels. https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/Oakland-legalizes-RVs-and-some-tiny-homes-on-16586811.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/Oakland-legalize...

ethbr0 4y ago

Since you seem to have researched this, how does "permanent foundation" interface with the structure on top of it, legally? I.e. what does zoning say if you pour a concrete slab, drop a mobile home on it, and then bolt the home down (for some definition of bolt)?

linguae 4y ago
I'm not an expert on building codes, but here are my assumptions based on what I've read thus far regarding zoning for residential properties: 1. The structure built on top of the permanent foundation must comply with the building codes of the municipality that the permanent foundation is located in. This requires obtaining permit(s) before bolting the structure onto the foundation. 2. The municipal planning department will have some definition for what would be a legally permissible foundation and what constitutes "bolting down." There are many companies that specialize in the building of mobile and manufactured homes that are compliant with state- and local-level building codes. But it's very important that people do their proverbial homework, making sure that the mobile/manufactured home does truly comply with the regulations of the intended permanent location.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  That tracks. My understanding is that part of the genesis of mobile homes was the industry lobbying for exclusions to residential building codes "because mobile homes are mobile." So I'd expect any mobile home (read: excluding prefab or factory-built) would fail a standard code check.

mcbishop 4y ago

The city of Oakland recently legalized tiny houses on wheels. https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/Oakland-legalizes-RVs-and-some-tiny-homes-on-16586811.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/Oakland-legalize...