Tiny houses: from 170 to 1,100 square feet, and where they fit

It is Rule 8.1.5 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, within the chapter on row houses, patio houses, apartment houses and micro houses. It recognises the micro house — "tiny house" — as a housing type with parameters of its own, and adds a full section for micro-house neighbourhoods or communities, which are a different thing: a planned-unit development with common areas and its own management.

The rule says OGPe, the Authorised Professional, the Adjudicative Board or the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III shall consider projects for building micro houses, and that they are permitted only in the zoning districts it lists. One discrepancy in the document itself must be noted: the rule’s heading lists districts R-B, R-I, R-U, R-C, RT-I, RT-A, C-T, DTS, ARD, R-G, A-G, D-G, A-B, C-R and R-E, but the text of Section 8.1.5.1(b) lists those same districts without DTS. Confirm your lot’s district with OGPe before relying on it.

• That the lot be in one of the zoning districts where the rule permits micro houses.Verified against the official source
• Complying with the design parameters of the district where it is located, together with those of Section 8.1.5.2 (Table 8.4).Verified against the official source
• Designing the micro house following the green-project provisions of Chapter 3.3 (Green Permits) of Volume III of the Regulation.Verified against the official source
• In communities: filing, before approval is granted, a maintenance plan for the common areas covering operation, costs, community facilities, private roads and the other common operations.Verified against the official source
• In communities: filing a plan with the lot layout and common areas, and a draft master deed describing the lots, the community facilities and the operating entity.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Where they are permitted (and the document’s discrepancy)

   The rule is clear that micro houses are permitted only in certain zoning districts. Rule 8.1.5’s heading lists R-B, R-I, R-U, R-C, RT-I, RT-A, C-T, DTS, ARD, R-G, A-G, D-G, A-B, C-R and R-E. The text of Section 8.1.5.1(b), on the next page, lists R-B, R-I, R-U, R-C, RT-I, RT-A, C-T, ARD, R-G, A-G, D-G, A-B, C-R and R-E: the same list, without DTS. We reproduce both because the document carries them differently; we do not decide for you which governs. If your lot is in DTS, that difference is exactly the question to put to OGPe before spending on plans.

2. 2

   Step 2: Table 8.4: the micro house’s numbers

   Minimum area: 15.79 square metres, or 170 square feet. Maximum area: 102.19 square metres, or 1,100 square feet. First occupant’s space: 15.79 square metres (170 sq ft). Space per additional occupant: 9.29 square metres (100 sq ft). Room for one occupant: 6.50 square metres (70 sq ft). Room for two or more occupants: 4.65 square metres (50 sq ft) per occupant. Front and rear porches: 7.43 square metres (80 sq ft). Minimum height: 2.29 metres, or 7.5 feet. Minimum width: 2.59 metres (8.5 ft). Maximum width: 6.10 metres (20 ft). Those are all the parameters the table carries, and they must be read together with the district’s: the rule says both are complied with, not one or the other.

3. 3

   Step 3: The green requirement

   Section 8.1.5.1(d) is not optional: micro houses must be designed following the green-project provisions of Chapter 3.3 (Green Permits) in Volume III of the regulation. The same applies to micro-house neighbourhoods or communities, which Section 8.1.5.3(b) expressly subjects to those same provisions. We did not read Chapter 3.3 for this guide and we do not say what it requires: only that the micro-house rule refers to it and that it must be read before designing.

4. 4

   Step 4: Communities: four to ten units

   Planned-unit development in a micro-house neighbourhood or community setting is permitted in districts R-B, R-I, R-U, R-C, RT-I, RT-A, C-T, DTS, ARD, D-G and R-G. The size is bounded at both ends: a minimum of four and a maximum of ten units grouped per neighbourhood or community. And neighbourhoods must be set up as an administrative entity to maintain and handle the affairs of the common areas, which must be self-sufficient. The rule adds that guest-house, eco-lodge and agro-lodge projects may be developed under these same parameters in districts RT-I, RT-A, C-T, DTS, D-G, A-B, C-R and R-E, provided they meet each district’s purposes and parameters, the Tourism Company’s Design Guidelines for Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Facilities, and the green-project provisions.

5. 5

   Step 5: The common areas: thirty-five metres per unit

   Developments shall have usable public spaces — lawn, gardens, courtyards, squares, gazebos, recreational areas — to which all micro houses will have access. Thirty-five square metres of common open space per unit are required. The main common area must be centrally located in the project. Community buildings or recreational facilities may be counted towards the calculation, and passive trails too. Additional common space may represent only twenty-five per cent of the total requirement, with trails connecting the development. Fifty per cent of the units must have their main entrance on the common open space, and all units must face within one and a half metres of each common space. Two important exclusions: rear yards may not be counted towards the common open space calculation, and the common open space must be located outside stormwater or retention ponds, wetlands, streams, lakes and buffer areas of critical areas, and may not be located on slopes over ten per cent.

6. 6

   Step 6: The porches: every unit, front and rear

   In communities, every unit must have front and rear porches, oriented towards the common open space or the street, and designed to provide a sense of privacy between units. There is flexibility for smaller units: porches on units under 55.75 square metres may be reduced to seventy-five per cent of the required area. And secondary entrances facing the parking and the pavement must have a minimum porch of one and a half by one and a half metres. The communities rule refers the units’ parameters to another section of the chapter; the micro house’s own numbers are those of Table 8.4 in Section 8.1.5.2, and that is how we report them.

7. 7

   Step 7: The lot layout: lots from 111.5 to 278.71 metres

   The minimum lot area per unit shall be 111.5 square metres and the maximum 278.71 square metres. Maximum occupancy is forty per cent for the unit, and up to a further thirty per cent for porches and accessory uses. The lot’s minimum width must be five and a half metres and the maximum nine; the minimum depth 15.25 metres and the maximum 30.5. The minimum front yard must be seven and a half metres, to be used for the porch and the parking space where the unit fronts the street. Rear yards to common areas shall be one and a half metres. Side yards: their sum must be no less than three metres, but for side yards facing open spaces it shall be two metres, keeping a minimum separation between units of three metres. And side yards may be used for the unit’s parking so long as that three-metre separation between units is kept.

8. 8

   Step 8: Parking, maintenance and the master deed

   Micro-house neighbourhoods or communities may have parking areas for motor vehicles and bicycles as established in Chapter 8.5 of the same volume, which is the chapter on parking provision. And there are two deliverables the regulation places before approval, not after. Before approval is granted, the applicant must file a maintenance plan for the common areas detailing the operation, the costs, the community facilities, the private roads, the units and the other common operations. And as part of the development application, a plan with the lot layout and common areas must be filed, along with a draft master deed containing a description of the lots, the community facilities and the entity operating the common areas.

The rule says OGPe, the Authorised Professional, the Adjudicative Board or the autonomous municipality with hierarchy I to III shall consider micro-house construction projects. The concrete procedure — which permit, on what form and through which counter — lives in other volumes of the Joint Regulation we did not read for this guide.

• Assuming a tiny house fits in any residential district: the rule lists the districts where it is permitted.
• Exceeding the 102.19 square metres (1,100 sq ft) maximum area.
• Designing it below 2.29 metres in height or outside the 2.59 to 6.10 metre width.
• Miscalculating space per occupant: 15.79 square metres for the first and 9.29 for each additional one.
• Forgetting the rule requires designing under the Green Permits chapter.
• Planning a community of three units or of more than ten.
• Counting rear yards within the thirty-five square metres of common open space per unit.
• Placing the common space on slopes over ten per cent or in wetlands, streams, lakes or buffer areas.
• Leaving the maintenance plan and draft master deed until after approval.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov