Tiny house or mobile home: what are the differences?

From a distance, a tiny house and a mobile home have things in common: a small floor area, wheels, a price lower than that of a house. But their status, the places where they can be installed and the way they are designed are completely different. Here is how to tell them apart, using the definitions in the Code de l’urbanisme (French planning code).

What does the French planning code say?

• Caravan (article R111-47): a habitable land vehicle, intended for temporary or seasonal leisure occupation, which permanently keeps its means of mobility and which the Code de la route (French highway code) does not prohibit from being driven on the road.
• Mobile leisure home, that is, the mobile home (résidence mobile de loisirs, RML; article R111-41): a habitable leisure land vehicle which keeps means of mobility allowing it to be moved by towing, but which the Code de la route prohibits from being driven on the road.
• Light leisure dwelling (habitation légère de loisirs, HLL; article R111-37): a demountable or transportable structure, intended for temporary or seasonal leisure occupation, such as a campsite chalet.
• Demountable dwelling used as a permanent home (résidence démontable; article R111-51): an installation without foundations, occupied as a main residence for at least eight months a year, which can be dismantled easily and quickly.

A tiny house on an approved, roadworthy trailer falls into the caravan category. Deprived of its mobility and lived in all year round, it may fall into the demountable dwelling category. This is the position of the Ministry of Housing, restated in 2019 to the Senate and in 2024 to the National Assembly.

Where can each one be installed?

This is the most practical difference:

• A mobile home can only be installed in residential leisure parks (parcs résidentiels de loisirs), holiday villages classified for light accommodation and properly established campsites, excluding natural camping areas (aires naturelles de camping) (article R111-42). Not in a private garden.
• A tiny house on wheels, as a caravan, can be parked on private land: without any formality for up to three months a year, and with a prior declaration (déclaration préalable) beyond that, in compliance with the PLU (local urban plan).
• A tiny house used as a permanent home falls under the rules for demountable dwellings: preparing the plot requires a prior declaration or a development permit (permis d’aménager), depending on the total floor area.

All the cases are covered in detail in our guide where to put a tiny house.

Can a mobile home be moved like a tiny house?

No. A mobile home keeps its wheels and its drawbar, but the Code de la route prohibits it from being driven on the road: it has to be transported as a load, by a haulier. A tiny house on an approved trailer can be driven on the road, towed by a suitable vehicle and a driver holding the right licence. See our guide on moving a tiny house.

What changes in the construction?

The Code de l’urbanisme does not describe how these homes are built: the differences come from each manufacturer’s choices. To compare them, ask each seller the same questions:

• Structure and cladding: which materials, what thickness?
• Insulation: which insulation material, what thickness in the walls, floor and roof? Is it designed for winter use?
• Ventilation: single-flow or balanced (MVHR)?
• Doors and windows: which material, which glazing?
• Chassis: a road-approved trailer, or a mobile home chassis?

At Tortue Lodge, for example, the Skywood is built on a 3.5 t twin-axle galvanised steel trailer, with rock wool insulation of at least 10 cm in the walls, 14 cm under the floor, larch cladding and MVHR (balanced ventilation with heat recovery). See our guides on insulation and MVHR.

What is each one used for?

• Mobile home: leisure stays on a campsite or in a residential leisure park, seasonal letting by the site operator.
• Tiny house on wheels: second home, stays on your own land, garden office or workshop, professional activity, with the option of moving the house.
• Tiny house used as a permanent home: main residence, under the rules for demountable dwellings.

Our range in fact includes a Mobile Home type model of 35 m² with two bedrooms: its status, like that of any house, depends on how it is installed and how it is used.

How to choose?

1. If you have a pitch on a campsite or in a residential leisure park and are planning leisure use, a mobile home is a good fit.
2. If you want to install the house on your own land, or be able to move it, a tiny house on wheels is the solution.
3. If you want to live in it all year round, look at the rules for demountable dwellings or at an authorised building: see living in a tiny house all year round.

Key points

• Mobile home = mobile leisure home, prohibited from being driven on the road, restricted to campsites, residential leisure parks and holiday villages.
• Tiny house on wheels = caravan, allowed on the road, possible on private land within the limits of the French planning code.
• Build quality depends on the manufacturer: compare insulation, ventilation, doors and windows, and chassis.