Who hasn’t dreamed of living in Maui? It’s a perfect slice of paradise located in Hawaii. Unfortunately, living in Maui isn’t cheap. The same can really be said for living anywhere in Hawaii.
Does that mean you can never achieve your dream of living in Maui if you aren’t a millionaire? Absolutely not. The tiny house movement has created an affordable solution to living just about anywhere in the country, including Hawaii.
Moving a tiny house into Maui won’t come without its obstacles. Government codes and regulations haven’t always been so clear on the subject. The tiny house movement is still fresh and states are still adjusting their codes to conform to these new dwellings. First, a tiny house needs to be clearly defined and understood.
What’s A Tiny House
As the name suggests, a tiny house is a home that is much smaller than normal. An average tiny house is going to range from 110 to 200 square feet at the most. It still includes all of the necessities of living such as a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and main area. Everything is just more compact and organized efficiently.
Why would anyone want to live in one of these? For a lot of reasons actually! The most obvious reason is the expense. Living in a tiny house is considerably cheaper all around. They are cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, and consume less energy than your normal house.
This means more money in your wallet. In an area like Maui where the average home costs as much as $480,000 it can be the difference between owning a home and living in the jungle.
The problem with owning such a tiny house is that the square footage usually falls short of what the local governments consider a “house”. The tiny house can’t stand up to building codes so knowing where you can legally live in one can be difficult. This was definitely the case in Hawaii.
Tiny House As A House Trailer
It took a few people poking around and asking a lot of questions before any real solutions were found regarding the legality of tiny homes in Maui. One solution that was found was to keep the house on a trailer. This placed it in a category as a house trailer, which kept it in the DMVs jurisdiction.
This isn’t necessarily a problem since most tiny homes are designed to fit on trailers or are built entirely on trailers. It did mean that the owner had to keep insurance on the “trailer”, go through an inspection, and it needed to be registered with the DMV.
The various fees required to register and maintain the tiny house in this matter can add up, but it’s still cheaper than the cost of renting a house or apartment anywhere else Maui. More recent updates from The Maui Zoning and Planning Department offer a different solution for people who don’t want to take this route.
Tiny House As A Secondary Dwelling
Recent updates revealed that a tiny house can be used as a “secondary dwelling” on a lot without a trailer as long as that lot is more than 7,500 square feet. They also stated that the tiny house must be at least ten feet from other structures located on the lot and at least five feet from the boundary.
Only one tiny house can be on a lot categorized as a secondary dwelling. However, this doesn’t apply to a tiny house that is completely “off the grid”. Off the grid means that it has its own power source, composting toilets, and isn’t connected to county utilities.
Tiny Houses Galore
With the new understanding of the Maui building codes, there have been tiny houses appearing everywhere. It’s a great idea if you want your own slice of paradise without paying an arm and a leg.
You’ll have a couple of different options as to how you classify your tiny house. You could classify it as a secondary dwelling, an off-the-grid building, or a house trailer. In any case, make sure you read up on any changes to zoning regulations and comply with them completely.