Bonner County, ID Accessory Structures: Tiny Homes (2026)

Title 12 of the Bonner County Revised Code never defines a tiny home on its own. The definition of recreation vehicle in § 12-818 covers a vehicular or portable unit designed to be mounted on a chassis and wheels and built to be installed with or without a permanent foundation, for human occupancy as a residence of not more than nine hundred (900) square feet in total floor area. That definition names tiny houses next to travel trailers, park models, camping trailers, truck campers and motor homes. A tiny house inside the 900 square foot ceiling is therefore regulated as a recreation vehicle.

Section 12-496(A) sets the rules for a recreational vehicle used as a dwelling unit. Lots or parcels less than one (1) acre in size are limited to one, and lots or parcels greater than one (1) acre are limited to two, without respect to density. Each unit requires a building location permit and must meet all residential building setbacks. The unit can sit inside a garage or under a snow roof, and a recreation vehicle used in conjunction with an open building location permit does not require an additional permit.

Short-term rental use is tied to the same section. Section 12-496 allows the unit to be a vacation rental subject to the standards in § 12-484, and § 12-484(C)(3)(b) bars any other recreational vehicle, travel trailer or temporary shelter from serving as a vacation rental. The one exception is a Recreational Vehicle Dwelling Unit permitted under § 12-496 that is connected to septic or sewer.

A tiny home above 900 square feet falls outside the recreation vehicle definition. Bonner County's separate cottage housing standards in § 12-480 set a maximum gross floor area of 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit and 900 square feet on the ground or main floor, but cottages are approved through a planned unit development or conservation subdivision, not a single lot permit.