A COUPLE striving to achieve their goal of living in a tiny home has hit a major roadblock.
In 2015, Michael and Ann Brown faced eviction after county officials came knocking.
Michael and Ann live mortgage-free in their Chesterfield, Virginia home – located about 20 miles south of Richmond.
But the couple’s home isn’t your typical dwelling.
It’s actually a shed-sized tiny house that sits in the backyard of their home.
The tiny home was built on wheels and cost about $25,000.
“Yeah, my wife and I created a floor plan, and then my uncle who is a builder out of state designed the framing plans to help make our dream a reality,” Michael told local ABC affiliate WRIC.
“It’s everything that I need and nothing that I don’t need.”
The couple has come to love their tiny home so much, they rent out their larger home to a tenant.
All was well – until officials with Chesterfield County told them otherwise.
The Browns were told to vacate their tiny home.
“I can’t live in my tiny house because Chesterfield County and many other localities in the area have ordinances against living in recreational vehicles,” Michael told local CBS affiliate WTVR.
“They don’t know quite how to classify it,” Michael told WRIC of the county’s stance on the tiny home.
Ron Clements, the Chesterfield Building Inspection Assistant Director, told WRIC that the situation is complicated because the county doesn’t have rules for tiny homes.
“Both the building code and the zoning ordinances probably have some catching up to do,” Clements told WRIC.
But that wasn’t helpful to the Browns, as they were on a time crunch to vacate their tiny home.
The Browns were told they could stay if they took the home off of the wheels it was built upon and complied with other rules.
They were being forced into a rental home, but county officials were working with the couple on a fix, according to WRIC.
“Whoever wants to live in a tiny house should be able to live in a tiny house,” says Michael.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Chesterfield County for an update.
