QUICK FACTS:
Are Tiny Houses Legal In Delaware: YES*
Tiny House Costs In Delaware: $40,000 – $100,000
Tiny House Friendly Cities: Dover, Wilmington, Newark
Liberation Tiny Homes Lancaster, PA
Liberation Tiny Homes is located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 85 miles north of Dover, Delaware. Liberation ships their custom-made tiny homes all across America. The entire team was born and raised in an area that is known for its rich history of creating, made up of designers, framers, builders, plumbers, and painters, all committed to building you the tiny house of your dreams.
Currently, Liberation Tiny Homes has seven prefabricated designs available, as well as an option to partner with the company to create your own tiny house shell.
Civic Works Tiny Homes Baltimore, MD
Located in Baltimore, Maryland, a mere three-hour train ride from Dover, Civic Works Tiny Homes is a tiny house manufacturing company that employs youth learning construction skills. Each tiny home built by Civic Works is built on a trailer. These tiny houses on wheels feature a living area, sleeping loft, kitchen, and bathroom, all in in less than 500 square feet. They currently have five models available with several options to customize.
Minim Homes Washington, DC
Minim Homes is a tiny house design company located in Washington, D.C., 90 miles west of Dover. Minim strives to answer philosophical questions around the way design affects us. The first Minim micro house was commissioned by Brian Levy in 2013. Since then, the company has created four different micro house designs, including a reimagined tiny home office. You can order the Minim House plans and SIPs panels on the website.
Armigers Dover and Laurel, DE
Armigers trailers has been serving the cities of Laurel and Dover, DE, for over 50 years. These two locations each carry a large selection of hauling products, including a variety of open and enclosed trailers. They also specialize in low-mileage, quality pre-owned cars, trucks, SUVs, boats, and RVs. Additionally, Armigers performs trailer repairs on various parts of the products.
Four Acres Trailer Sales Wilmington, DE
Serving Wilmington and surrounding cities in Delaware, Four Acres carries a wide supply of trailer options on site. Its flatbed utility trailers are the best way to go to build your own tiny house on wheels. While Four Acres does not ship products, it does allow anyone to come out to their warehouse and peruse what’s available. You can also email or call the company to get a sense of what products are available and to get a quote.
AJ’s Truck And Trailer Center Harrisburg, PA
AJ’s Truck and Trailer Center offers a large selection of trailer variations and hauling products including hitches, plows, and salt spreaders. The company also carries and installs vehicle accessories like electrical connectors to brake controllers. For tiny houses on wheels, AJ’s has single and tandem axel flatbed utility trailers as well as a car hauler series. While located in Pennsylvania, AJ’s is currently delivering trailers and other products to the following cities in Delaware:
- Wilmington, DE
- Middletown, DE
- Dover, DE
- Rehoboth Beach, DE
- Newark, DE
- Smyrna, DE
- Milford, DE
- Bethany Beach, DE
- New Castle, DE
- Camden, DE
- Georgetown, DE
Delaware Tiny Houses For Sale
While the tiny house movement has not yet skyrocketed in Delaware as intensely as it has in other states, there are still certainly a great deal of tiny housers in the area.
Living tiny in Delaware can be a more scenic and idyllic experience than you might initially imagine. Once nicknamed the Small Wonder, Delaware is renowned for being a gorgeous place to live when it comes to tourist spots and natural beauty. It’s jam packed with quaint beach towns, deep colonial history, and sublime natural treasures.
One of the biggest upsides to adopting the tiny life in Delaware is how close together everything is. The state’s small size means you can easily take your tiny house on wheels to all corners of the state, as well as neighboring states, in a single day’s trip.
Delaware truly has a lot to offer when it comes to experiencing the great outdoors. The state slopes down from a Piedmont plateau in the north all the way to coastal plains in the east and south, which almost reach sea level. From camping in one of its 17 state parks, galivanting across sand dunes, taking scenic drives through open terrain, or kayaking across the waterways of the coastal plains, there’s no shortage of breathtaking places you can explore in your tiny house on wheels.
Because the tiny house movement hasn’t quite peaked in Delaware yet, there aren’t many tiny houses for sale in the state.
The state of Delaware is a captivating place to live full time in a tiny home, but it’s also a nice state to visit. There are many historical and exciting activities available for tourists to try in the first state.
If you feel moved to experience tiny living but don’t want to commit to the lifestyle long term, check out the above Airbnb tiny house listings in Delaware.
Tiny Estates
Located 50 miles from Wilmington, Delaware (only a 2.5-hour train ride), Tiny Estates is a tiny house community for those who want to live in a tiny house full time. The community does not host tiny house rentals, as all of its residents own their tiny houses.
Tiny Estates has tiny houses for sale as well as lot availability where you can bring your own tiny house on wheels to the community and join in the tiny experience. It hosts many community events to participate in together, like game nights, festivals, movie showings, and holiday parties.
They welcome families, couples, and single adults to join their network of tiny life enthusiasts. You can apply to join their community by downloading the application.
Blue Moon Rising
A four-hour drive from New Castle, Delaware, Blue Moon Tiny Village Rising is a vacation spot ideal for lovers of tiny homes. Created by the builders at Hobbitat, the village embodies a communal spirit. While it is a vacation spot, the village encourages camaraderie amongst its nature-loving, tiny-house adoring guests. Blue Moon is located on Deep Creek Lake, the largest inland body of water in Maryland.
These tiny house vacation rentals each have a unique design that you and your family can reserve for $225 a night on weekdays or $249 a night on weekends to create a home-away-from-home experience. The tiny houses are designed for two to four people, meaning parents and two kids fit comfortably.
The property has 15 cabins, each with a different tiny house design and various bed sizes. Check out the website to peruse which layout will work best for your family. All cabins have heating, a full indoor bathroom, and towels and sheets are provided at your arrival.
At Blue Moon Rising, you can also participate in many group activities in and around Deep Creek Lake including skiing, boating, horseback riding, swimming, white-water rafting, and even sleigh rides at Christmas time. Contact founder Lisa M. Jan through the website to book a stay.
Maybe you aren’t interested in buying or renting a tiny house just yet, but want to hear more about the culture of tiny houses in the Diamond State. If you’re looking to connect with others and learn more information about the tiny house lifestyle, consider joining a social group.
There aren’t a ton of groups and resources for tiny housers in the state of Delaware specifically. We encourage you to look for your own social groups and comment your findings at the bottom of our page. Or better yet, start your own group and tell us about it!
Tiny House Communities Delaware
Currently the only tiny house-centric online group specifically for residents of Delaware, Tiny House Communities Delaware takes a charitable approach to tiny housing. It is a Facebook group that has adopted tiny houses as a possible solution for a shortage of affordable workforce housing and homelessness. Join the Facebook group to learn more and contribute to this use for tiny homes in Delaware.
Delaware Gardening Group
Tiny living is not only about tiny houses specifically, but the lifestyle shift that coincides with living on less. A huge part of that lifestyle is the way you treat your resources and the environment around you. The Delaware Gardening Group is a Facebook group for those living in Delaware that share tips and tricks for composting, caring for plants, and gardening. Anyone can join.
When trying to decipher how small you can build your permanent dwelling, where you can legally park your tiny house on wheels, or what classification your property is going to fall under, there is an array of laws and sources to defer to.
Are Tiny Houses On Wheels Legal In Delaware?
Yes, with a catch. The state of Delaware classifies mobile properties based on size, not explicitly by feature. Meaning that the size of your tiny house is going to be what determines all of the building laws and codes that apply to your tiny home through the Delaware Department of Motor Vehicles.
The classification for a mobile home will typically apply to larger tiny houses on wheels. More information on mobile home property codes can be found here, but these are the general specifications:
- At least 8 feet wide
- At least 40 feet long
- 400 square feet in total
The classification for a trailer will typically apply to smaller tiny houses on wheels. Anything smaller than the dimensions above is considered a trailer by the state.
Can I Park My Tiny House On Wheels In Public In Delaware?
Because there aren’t any tiny house-specific laws in Delaware, rules for where you can park your tiny house are going to be the same as any other recreational vehicle. Parking your vehicle temporarily for travel verses permanently living in your recreational vehicle has different legal implications.
In Delaware, laws for parking a recreational vehicle can be found in Chapter 45, section 4512 of the Delaware Code for motor vehicles.
The code states that it’s illegal to park or store recreational vehicles at a residence district long-term if the RV is a trailer or semi-trailer unattached to an additional motor vehicle, or if the motor vehicle has:
- Length greater than 276 inches
- Width over 96 inches
- Height over 120 inches
- Weight exceeding 10,000 pounds
The only exception to this is if the vehicle is parked directly adjacent to or within the owner’s property.
Travelling in a tiny house on wheels is a different story. When it comes to where you can park a recreational vehicle temporarily in the state of Delaware, check out this list of parks, campgrounds, and resorts that allow and accommodate RVs.
Are Tiny Houses On Foundation Legal In Delaware?
A tiny house built entirely on foundation is given a different legal classification than a tiny house on wheels in the state of Delaware.
However, in 2018, the International Residential Code (IRC) added Appendix Q to define a tiny house on foundation and loosen up most of the building code regulations that were preventing their construction. Appendix Q legalizes the following in traditional dwellings:
However, states have the independent freedom to override these adjustments. Tiny houses on foundation do not have their own legal category in Delaware, separate from traditional houses. They need to comply with all building laws regarding traditional housing.
The state building codes explain many rules and regulations about what you can and cannot build and how those buildings can be used. Here are the rules from Chapter 368 that I felt were worth noting, as they could apply to tiny house construction in Delaware:
- No equipment or material that is part of or related to the public electrical system, mechanical system, fuel gas system, plumbing system, building sewer system or similar system, can be used until the department has issued a permit or certificate allowing its use or operation.
- The dwelling may have a door width that is 36 inches wide at a minimum, with a standard pivot or hinged door.
- The interior doors and doorways, except for closets, of the dwelling unit shall provide a clear opening with a minimum width of 36 inches.
- The dwelling unit may provide at least one primary bedroom or room that can easily be converted to a primary bedroom within the dwelling unit, on the accessible level and connected to the accessible route.
- The kitchen shall be on an accessible level and be connected to the accessible route.
- The kitchen in the dwelling unit shall have at least a sixty-inch diameter turning space.
- The kitchen in the dwelling unit shall have all pull-out shelving.
- The bathroom shall be on an accessible level and be connected to the accessible route.
- The bathroom shall have at least a sixty-inch diameter turning space.
- The hallways of the dwelling unit shall be at least 42 inches wide.
You can also leaf through the traditional housing codes in Delaware on your own to scope out others that may apply to your specific tiny house on foundation.
Tiny House Laws in Key Delaware Counties: Local Zoning Ordinances
The small state of Delaware is made up of a mere three counties; New Castle, Kent, and Sussex.
And while the state doesn’t have its own rules about tiny living yet, county-specific building codes can affect the legality of tiny house construction within the state.
Some cities and counties tend to have laws that allow them to be more tiny-home friendly, while others have created their own set of specific regulations. Take a look at county-specific tiny home information below in Delaware.
New Castle, DE
Traditional housing laws for the county of New Castle are in accordance with the housing laws for the entire state — what you see is what you get. The traditional housing laws of Delaware can be read about here.
Sussex, DE
Sussex County has stricter zoning laws in certain residential neighborhoods to maintain the historic feel of its inner districts. However, there has been an increase in those who want to reduce the size of their coastal homes, with the tiny house trend making more of a wave in that demographic.
The trend has grown in the last decade, but the building code in Sussex hasn’t exactly met demands. Check out the laws in Sussex for single-family dwellings to learn more.
Tiny House Building Codes In Key Cities Of Delaware
Dover, DE
The city of Dover has attempted to be more tiny-house friendly in the last few years. In 2018, the city began plans for a local tiny house village, but the village was never completed.
The tiny house community in Dover has also received some pushback against building tiny homes, but they do not currently have any laws in place that explicitly restrict the construction of tiny houses. Defer to the traditional housing laws for more information.
Tiny House Building Codes In Delaware:
Tiny House Laws In Delaware:
*Disclaimer: The information provided on this website should not be taken as an expert opinion, consultation, or advisement of any kind. Building codes, home building, zoning, local laws etc are complicated and ultimately your responsibility to execute legally and safely. You must do your own research, consult with and verify with all applicable authorities, local officials, regulatory bodies, code and zoning officials, and city/state/federal governments. See our full legal page for further information here: https://thetinylife.com/about-us/legal/
Any information would be appreciated!