Guide · Living on your land
Can I live in an RV or a tiny home on my land in Florida?
It depends on your parcel's zoning, not on state law. Florida defines an RV as temporary living quarters, so whether one may stand on your land, and for how long, is up to the county or city that zones it; the main state-wide exception is up to 36 months after a declared disaster wrecks your home. A tiny home on a foundation counts as a house: it must meet the Florida Building Code and whatever the district requires of a house.
What Florida law calls each kind of home
The name on the unit matters, because each type falls under a different set of rules. These are the state's own terms:
| Type | What the state says | Where the rule lives |
|---|---|---|
| RV: travel trailer, fifth wheel, motor home, camper | Built mainly as temporary living quarters for recreation, camping or travel | s. 320.01(1)(b), F.S. |
| Park trailer | An RV up to 14 feet wide on one chassis, for seasonal or temporary living, 400 square feet (500 if built to HUD standards) | s. 320.01(1)(b)7 |
| Mobile or manufactured home | 8 feet wide or more, on its own chassis, designed as a dwelling once hooked to utilities; built to HUD's federal standard with a label on each section | s. 320.01(2)(a); HUD, 24 CFR Part 3280 |
| Tiny house | A dwelling of 400 square feet or less, lofts excluded, on a permanent foundation, built to the code's tiny house appendix | Florida Building Code, Residential, Appendix Q |
A tiny home on wheels is the awkward case. A 2024 House staff analysis explains that one can sometimes be registered as a park trailer, which limits it to seasonal use. The bill that would have allowed year-round living in one died in committee.
Step 1: find who zones the parcel
Outside city limits the county zones the land; inside, the city does. Get the district code and the name of the government that set it. Our map carries zoning in 46 of the 67 counties; for the rest, the county list says where each publishes its map.
Step 2: read the district's use table, not its name
Open that government's land development code and find the district. Search its text for these words: recreational vehicle, travel trailer, camping, temporary use, mobile home, manufactured home, accessory dwelling, and minimum floor area. The answer to your question is usually in one of three places: the list of permitted uses, the special exceptions, or a separate section on temporary uses.
District names mislead in both directions. Across the 46 counties with zoning on our map, only 10 districts mention RVs or camping in their description, covering 2,878 parcels, and most of those are RV parks or resorts, not home sites. Districts named for mobile homes cover 32,320 parcels. Yet the county rolls code 439,951 parcels as mobile homes. Most of them sit in districts whose names say nothing about mobile homes:
| County | District and its description | Parcels coded mobile home |
|---|---|---|
| Marion | R-4, Residential Mixed Use | 14,847 |
| Marion | A-1, General Agriculture | 7,329 |
| Marion | R-1, Single Family Dwelling | 643 |
| Marion | MH, Manufactured Housing | 113 |
| Putnam | R-2, Residential, Mixed | 8,447 |
| Putnam | AG, Agriculture | 6,202 |
Marion's district called Manufactured Housing holds 113 of the county's 24,633 mobile home parcels. The rest stand in mixed residential and farm districts that allow them. Some in single-family districts may predate today's rules. The use table, not the label, tells you what a new placement may do.
Step 3: check the conditions
- Time limits. Codes that allow an RV on a lot often cap the stay, tie it to an active building permit, or allow it only while you build the house.
- Minimum home size. A district can set a minimum floor area for a dwelling that a 400-square-foot tiny house does not meet.
- Water and wastewater. Living on land needs a septic permit or a sewer connection and a well or utility water. The county health department still issues septic permits, under rules DEP has set since 2021.
- Private restrictions. Deed restrictions and association rules can forbid an RV that zoning allows. Read the recorded restrictions for the subdivision.
The disaster exception
Florida law gives one statewide right. After the Governor declares a state of emergency for a natural disaster that leaves your home unlivable, neither the county (s. 125.023) nor the city (s. 166.0335) may forbid one temporary shelter, such as an RV, on the property for up to 36 months, or until the rebuilt home gets its certificate of occupancy. You must be making a good-faith effort to rebuild, live in the shelter, and keep it connected to water and electricity.
Where this stops
- Zoning layers are each government's GIS copy. A recent rezoning or a new temporary-use ordinance may not show yet.
- A code's wording is the start, not the end: ask the planning office to confirm in writing before you buy or move in.
- Code enforcement, not the map, decides whether an existing RV on a parcel is legal.
On Map Views
Type the address and the report shows the zoning code, the district's description where the government published one, and who set it, with the future land use, flood zone, and the septic and well record beside it. The roll's use code tells you whether the parcel is already a mobile home site. Write the planning office's answer in a note on the parcel. For what the letters in a code mean, see Florida zoning codes explained.
The statutes, the Florida Building Code and the local land development code are the authority. Our zoning layer is each government's published data as fetched; confirm the district and its rules with the planning office.