REAL ESTATE LAW

Land Requirements for a Mobile Home

By Editorial Team

December 27, 2018

Reviewed by Michelle Seidel, B.Sc., LL.B., MBA

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Buying a mobile home is good idea for many people who want a low cost, low maintenance place to live. However, while buying a mobile home may be cheaper than buying a much larger house that doesn't mean that buying a mobile home is less difficult than buying other pieces of property. There are certain, necessary requirements that must be met, and the place to begin checking is with the land requirements.

Zoning

Zoning laws are different from one county or city to another, and it's critical that you check the zoning laws on your property to make sure the property can be used for a mobile home. If you have a lot of land that's in a downtown area, for instance, then the chances are good that it's zoned for business or for a multi-story building and not for a pre-fabricated or mobile home. Keep zoning requirements in mind when shopping around for a piece of land to put your mobile home on; everything else stems from these laws.

Septic Requirements

Another critical requirement for land that will be boasting a mobile home is whether it will support a septic system. Mobile homes don't link into plumbing systems as do regular homes or buildings, but rather they have a septic tank that has to be buried below ground for all of the waste. If the land isn't suitable for a septic system ("perked" is the term for land that is suitable), then it will have to be modified. Modifying your lot so that a septic system can be installed is often a time-consuming and costly process that negates much of the savings from buying a mobile home in the first place.

Anchoring

When placing your mobile home on a lot, the home has to be anchored to the land and properly supported. This means that footers (anchoring blocks placed in the ground) must be sunk, and they have to be attached to your mobile home's I-beams with support pillars. These pillars simultaneously support your mobile home and keep it off the dirt and give it the anchoring it needs to not be moved by the elements. Anchoring may not be required in some places according to allmanufacturedhomes.com, but it does provide benefits to your mobile home.

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