Permission

[Sx2308]

Hi. I currently live in a house!! I need a change. I have spent some time staying in a yurt.
I'd like to make the move to a more sustainable life and move away from bricks!
Can anyone advise on the permissions needed to live all year round in a yurt or other temporary structure?
Can I just buy a piece of land and build a yurt?

Or are there RULES!!!!

[Jafo]

It really depends on the county/town you live in.

[grammy2joo]

You'll need to start by contacting the building department of whatever community you'd like to live in. Responses will be everything from an absolute no to sure, anything goes here.
There is no simple answer to your question; it will require a great deal of research on your part.

[Rachael Delay]

I have some unrestricted land ( in terms of zones ). If you would like to ask me some questions about it i would be able to help.

You could hypothetically live on it and not have to worry about anyone enforcing laws on you. Its a portable structure so that also makes a difference.

[HawaiiYurts]

Often, not always, rural areas are more lax. But as people have mentioned previously, it is important that you go straight to the source, which would be the building department in the county you're looking at. Even when they say "No", the answer might not need to be "No". Often you just need to be ready to prove the engineering specs and that the yurt you will be building will meet codes.

We had to fight for it here, but we're going on over a decade since that fight that we've been able to keep yurt homes legal.

Colorado Yurts

are great for helping their clients prove specs and they're willing to work directly with building departments to get on the same page. That's a hugely helpful service! But you'd need to do your part in getting the plans drafted, stamped by a local architect, and routing through county. Then let CYC know what points are getting stuck with county. Good Luck!

[gointotheland]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I am looking into buying some land and hope to build a yurt. The plans are still in formation, but they run from a yurt for personal use all the way to a sort of glamping situation, whereby I'd run a business with yurt(s) as well as perhaps other alternative types of structures such as storage container units or Airstream trailers.

I am looking in Colorado, where I live, but would consider other states as well. In this initial stage, it seems the land restrictions, even in very rural counties of 5-10K people are insanely strict with a few counties having outright total restrictions on yurts!

I know this is a very vague and general question with lots of possibilities, but does anyone have any information pertaining to any counties, which allow yurts and or have little to no zoning and land use rules in rural areas? Short of contacting every county in the county for up to date information, I see very limited ways of getting up to date information!

Any information would be helpful!

Thanks!

[Jafo]

It is basically a county by county, town by town, prospect.

[Rachael Delay]

Its hard to find a place so in murpy nc there is alot of unrestricted land no codes etc nice area honestly

Moslty alot of elderly people

[grammy2joo]

Custer County here in Colorado has no building codes. I bought an acre there. I emailed Fremont CO and was told that the fact that it's a yurt has no bearing as long as it meets the same building codes.

[gointotheland]

Originally Posted by grammy2joo

Custer County here in Colorado has no building codes. I bought an acre there. I emailed Fremont CO and was told that the fact that it's a yurt has no bearing as long as it meets the same building codes.

Grammy2joo, thank you! Yes, in fact, I just heard from Custer County today and was told just that about the building codes, which is wonderful news, since that is the county, where we really want to be and where we started our search.

We are going down to look at some land-working with a realtor-this coming weekend. Been working out all the details of water use, looking at 35+ acres or properties of lesser amounts with water augmentation. The county seems pretty lax, other than the requirement that every structure must have a flush toilet, I was told. I asked the county if a modern outhouse with a flush toilet would suffice, and was asked to contact the state water guy in the area for verification on that one.

The big problem really seems to be that so much of the land is in an HOA with covenants. I found it amazing that in such a rural area, much of the land is subdivided like that. It's truly been a trick to find parcels meeting all the requirements for water and covenants.

Are you planning to put a yurt on your acre?