Permits and law

Permits: what decides whether your tiny house may stand where you want it.

Nothing about a tiny house project is decided by the house. The plot decides — its designation, its servicing and the use you intend. This is the subject that ends most projects before they start, and the one that costs nothing to check first.

In short

Nothing about a tiny house project is decided by the house. The plot decides — its designation, its servicing and the use you intend. This is the subject that ends most projects before they start, and the one that costs nothing to check first.

The plot decides, not the product

A tiny house is not a legal category. In all five of our destination markets the question is the same: is a structure permissible on this plot, for this use, at this size? Germany asks it through the Bebauungsplan or §34/§35 BauGB, the Netherlands through the omgevingsplan, Denmark through the lokalplan and zone status, Luxembourg through the PAG and PAP, Switzerland through the zoning ordinance. A manufacturer cannot answer any of them. What a manufacturer can do is supply the structural data, the dimensions, the build-up and the technical documentation the application needs — and that is what we supply.

Wheels do not change the answer

The most persistent misunderstanding in the European tiny house market is that a chassis converts a building into a vehicle. It does not. Every one of the five markets looks at how the unit is actually used: if it stands in one place and people live or sleep in it, planning law treats it as a structure, registration plates or not. The chassis matters for transport, for the option to relocate later, and sometimes for the procedure — it does not create an exemption from planning law.

What to ask, and how to ask it

Write to the authority, not to a forum. Describe the plot by its address and parcel number, state the intended use in plain words (permanent residence, holiday use, letting, home office), give the external dimensions and the intended foundation, and ask two questions: is this admissible, and which procedure applies. Ask for the answer in writing. A verbal 'that should be fine' from a counter has no value when a neighbour objects eighteen months later.

Insurance follows the permit, not the other way round

Transport cover applies during delivery. Building or natural-hazard cover applies once the unit stands. If you let the house, operator liability applies on top. Insurers ask what the planning status is — a unit standing without the permit it needed is difficult to insure and difficult to sell. Settling the permit question first is therefore not bureaucratic caution; it is what makes the rest of the project insurable.

Questions

Frequently asked, answered here.

No, and any manufacturer who says otherwise is selling something they do not control. Admissibility is decided by the authority at the site, on the basis of the local plan and the intended use. MODUNERA supplies the building and the technical documentation for the application.

As a rule, no. All five destination markets look at whether the unit stands permanently and is used for occupation. Wheels affect transport and relocation, not the planning question.

The plot. In Germany it is usually the outer area under §35 BauGB; in Switzerland it is a site outside the building zone; in the Netherlands and Denmark it is a recreation or summer-house designation where permanent residence is restricted.

That varies by municipality and by procedure, and neither the manufacturer nor a website can shorten it. Start the conversation with the authority before you order, so the production slot and the permit run in parallel rather than in sequence.

Five destination markets

What has to be settled in each country.

The same question is answered differently in Copenhagen than in Zurich. These five points belong in every project check, whatever detail you are researching right now.

Germany

Responsible: the lower building authority of the district or independent city.

Governing plan: the Bebauungsplan, or an assessment under §34 or §35 BauGB where there is none.

Permanent living is possible where the plot lies within a built-up area or a Bebauungsplan permits residential use and the project is approved. In the outer area under §35 BauGB, living is privileged only in narrowly defined cases — the most common reason German projects fail.

Germany →

Netherlands

Responsible: the municipality, through the Omgevingsloket.

Governing plan: the municipal omgevingsplan under the Environment and Planning Act.

Permanent living requires a residential function in the omgevingsplan. Many attractive sites are designated for recreation, where permanent residence is not allowed — even where it happens in practice.

Netherlands →

Denmark

Responsible: the kommune.

Governing plan: the lokalplan together with the zone status (byzone, sommerhusområde or landzone).

Permanent living requires a site in byzone or an equivalent designation. In sommerhusområder year-round residence is restricted in principle, and exceptions are tied to personal conditions.

Denmark →

Luxembourg

Responsible: the commune.

Governing plan: the plan d'aménagement général (PAG) and the associated plan d'aménagement particulier (PAP).

Permanent living is possible where the PAG zone permits residential use and the autorisation de construire is granted. Because municipalities are small, practice differs noticeably from place to place.

Luxembourg →

Switzerland

Responsible: the municipality together with the canton.

Governing plan: the municipal land-use plan and the zoning ordinance.

Permanent living is possible inside the building zone where the zone permits residential use and the Baubewilligung is granted. Outside the building zone, living is admissible only in narrowly defined exceptions — the most common reason Swiss projects fail.

Switzerland →
All questions and answers per destination →
Models

Which models come into question.

Eight plans on one technical basis, 2.55 metres wide. What differs is length, layout and specification depth.

ModelLayoutLengthEx works
MD 1Panorama and loft8.00 m or 9.70 m44,900 €
MD 2Two lofts for families9.00 m52,900 €
MD 3Loft plus extra room8.00 m or 9.70 m47,900 €
MD 4Loft, room and veranda8.00 m or 9.00 m50,900 €
MD 5Compact with extra room8.00 m or 9.00 m46,900 €
MD 6Chalet with pitched roof8.00 m or 9.00 m54,900 €
MD 7Entry model8.00 m42,900 €
MD 8Compact, upgraded line8.00 m45,900 €
See MD 1 to MD 8
Checklist

Five points before ordering.

  • A written answer from the responsible authority on admissibility at the specific plot — verbal assurances do not carry a project.
  • Access and unloading point, with photographs and dimensions. In practice the last hundred metres cause more trouble than the long haul.
  • Servicing: the distance to power, drinking water and sewer. That distance sets one of the largest secondary items.
  • Type of use and number of people. Permanent living, holidays and letting lead to different specifications of the same model.
  • Budget range including foundation, connections, unloading, planning, fees and insurance — not just the ex-works price.

Start your project in two minutes.

Send your country, intended use and preferred model via WhatsApp and we will structure the next step.

WhatsApp enquiry →