Tiny home rules in Charleston, WV — covering tiny houses on wheels (THOWs), park model RVs, and tiny home on foundation builds — determine where they are legal and how they get permitted.
In unincorporated Kanawha County, a foundation-built tiny home is a dwelling under the West Virginia State Building Code, while a tiny home on wheels is treated like an RV or mobile home. Placing either requires a county permit.
Kanawha County classifies a tiny home by how it is built. A foundation tiny house is a single-family dwelling under the adopted West Virginia State Building Code, including IRC Appendix Q standards for homes 400 square feet or less, and needs approved water, wastewater, and — on septic — enough lot area under the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department. A tiny home on wheels is titled and placed like a recreational vehicle or manufactured home, and the county's guidelines require a permit to place a mobile home, new or used. With no county zoning districts, placement is limited mainly by the building and floodplain rules rather than a zoning table, though cities zone within their limits.
Occupying a foundation tiny home without a final certificate, or placing a mobile or manufactured tiny home without the required county permit, brings code enforcement and doubled or tripled fees.
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