I have a plan. A very small plan, or perhaps more of a tiny dream. To buy a block of land somewhere along the beautiful South Coast and plonk something like a tiny solar home on it such that my family and I can escape the noise of Lawrence Hargrave Drive for a week or two, gaze upon a properly dark night sky and peer into the Milky Way with all its glory.
I believe I’m not the only one with this dream. Now, whether it includes a tiny home, a caravan, a yurt, or even a country villa, what is the net result of us city-type folk buying vacant lots in regional Australia? Yep – you guessed it, property price increases. And we all know about the effects of this.
But, I digress – this is an article on tiny homes, not property prices. So, why not dream big and go for the large country villa? My response would be that there’s something unique about living in a tiny well-considered shelter. I would say that it allows you to become more intimate with nature, but without incurring the discomforts of camping.
I love caravans too, especially the old Airstreams, but they’re designed more to be carted around than for the comforts of home. Let’s face it, tiny homes only have wheels so they can bypass the legislation around building them with footings.
With the advent of modern efficient solar panels and composting toilets, it means these tiny homes are a very versatile domicile. So that brings me to why I like tiny homes so much. First, for the most part, you don’t need Council approval to park them on your piece of terra firma (STCA – that abbreviation you often see on real estate ads, it stands for Subject To Council Approval).
You do need to check with your local Council first. You see, tiny homes are technically caravans that look like houses. They are on wheels and they need to be registered if they ever encounter a road. (You can relocate them on the back of a lorry but that’s kind of silly when they have their own wheels.) For the most part, the wheels will likely get used once and then that’s it. They just sit there to prove that for all intents and purposes, the thing is not permanent.
To alleviate the housing crisis, Shellharbour Council is looking at ways to make it easier for people to plonk a tiny dream on their or someone else’s piece of terra firma. Whilst I laud them for doing so, I think this will only make a small dent in the housing crisis. I also feel that this is almost an act of exasperation for want of other longer-term and more appropriate solutions.
My friends on Instagram @ordinaryhouseau are doing great things with the tiny house form. Chatting with co-directors Sam and Lucia was illuminating, as there are some murky unknowns that one encounters with a tiny home plonk.
1. Do you need to keep them road-registered to justify them as a caravan?
2. How do you attach to a sewer? Does Sydney Water have an issue with another toilet, kitchen and shower popping up all over the place?
3. Should tiny homes have a standard for construction? Currently, they just need to fulfil the caravan standards.
4. What happens when you plonk your tiny home on someone else’s land and they keep jacking the rent up? Should there be a residential lease agreement that protects tiny renters?
5. If they don’t produce their own solar power, will they require their own circuit from the property’s mains board? Who pays for this?
6. Many Councils require the person occupying a tiny home to be a “member of the household”. How does one define a member of the household? Do they occasionally need to stay in the house?
7. In a bushfire-affected area – do tiny homes need to be made of non-combustible materials and/or adhere to the bushfire building code?
8. Insurance – can they even be insured?
Byron Bay Council has a fact sheet summarising some of these quandaries. Tiny Solar Homes has a good FAQ at www.tinysolarhomes.com.au – while you’re there, book a tour of their display model.
As you can see, it’s not the easiest of plonks! There’s no doubt that tiny homes have a role to play in alleviating the housing crisis, but unless some of these unknowns are converted to certainties, they’re going to be effective only in certain circumstances.
As for my tiny dream, it will have to be satisfied by the ones available to rent for now!
