Tiny Homes Starting to be A Big-Deal Solution for People Priced Out of Colorado’s Housing Market
New state law puts tiny homes on the same regulatory foundation as other manufactured housing, opening the door to let people live in them long term.
Source: VailDaily – The popular tiny home movement is growing bigger in Colorado thanks to a new law aimed at allowing factory-built homes of about 400 square feet or less to become permanent fixtures in neighborhoods and in one case, to be used as an emerging therapy to get homeless military veterans back on their feet.
Advocates say House Bill 1242** went into effect July 1st, will spur more purchases since it sets building standards for the scaled-down structures. These new rules also allow cities and counties to create legal pathways to let people live in tiny homes for a lifetime as opposed to just 180 days, advocates say.
“Before this law, we saw a lot of tiny homes the owners weren’t allowed to live in permanently,” said Art Laubach of Einstyne Tiny Homes in Brighton. Sometimes , depending on local laws, a tiny house would be wheeled into a mobile home park or RV park and considered a residence. Generally tiny homes were not legally a permanent, living structure in Colorado, Laubach said.
**Editor’s note: Our review of the House Bill 1242 summary indicates standards will be similar in some instances to those of HUD Code manufactured homes which are federally regulated. However, the bill does not address perfection of lien, title, or financing requirements.
Colorado law exempts manufactured homes from sales and use tax.This act adds tiny homes to this exemption. Tiny homes are classified as residential improvements for the purpose of property tax, which means the landowner will pay the lower residential tax rates on land that has a tiny home.
