Building permits, zoning and septic in the Town of Holland, MA

At a glance

Building permits

Required from the town Building Inspector for construction, rebuilding, use conversion and additions¹

Zoning approval

Town-level zoning; Planning Board handles site-plan review and serves as a special-permit authority²

Septic review

Town Board of Health contact for perc tests and septic inspections; statewide sanitary requirements apply³⁴

RV and trailer living

Living quarters prohibited; manufactured-home rebuilding exception lasts no more than 12 months⁵

Owner-builder

State homeowner registration exemption does not waive building permits or inspections⁶

Private wells

State law allows town well-site permits; ask the Board of Health for Holland’s requirements⁷³

Who to call

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on October 12, 2026.

Do you need a building permit in the Town of Holland, MA?

Holland requires a building permit from the Building Inspector before constructing, rebuilding, converting the use of or adding to a building.¹ When another town approval is required, the approval request must include scaled drawings.¹ Massachusetts local building inspectors enforce the statewide building code within their municipalities.⁸

A homeowner registration exemption under state law does not remove the need for Holland building permits, inspections or other applicable licensing requirements.⁶ Ask the Holland Building Department which inspections and occupancy documentation your particular project will require before setting a construction schedule.⁹

Who issues building permits in the Town of Holland, and how do you apply?

The Holland Building Inspector issues the town building permit, and the Building Department offers application reviews by appointment.¹⁹ Deliver or mail Holland building applications to the town office; the department does not accept applications online or by email.⁹ Online payment is available, but paying online does not substitute for delivering the application.⁹

Electrical, plumbing or gas work requires the corresponding additional permit applications and fees alongside the building permit.⁹ Issued building permits can be picked up at Town Hall after notification, or mailed when the applicant supplies a self-addressed, stamped envelope.⁹ Contact the department through the verified phone or email listed above to arrange review.⁹

Does the Town of Holland have zoning, lot-size and setback rules?

Holland has municipal zoning, and the Planning Board drafts zoning amendments, handles site-plan review and serves as a special-permit granting authority.² Massachusetts requires municipalities to identify zoning districts on a map and make their zoning bylaws available for inspection.¹⁰ Ask the Holland Planning Board to identify the parcel’s district and applicable dimensional table before settling on a house location.²

Holland’s published use table lists accessory dwelling units as special-permit uses in AR, R, GA, B and RB, and excludes them in C.¹¹ State law separately protects qualifying accessory dwelling units in single-family residential zoning districts, subject to allowed regulations.¹² Ask the Planning Board to reconcile the published table with that statewide protection before choosing an ADU approval route.²¹¹¹²

How do septic permits work inside the Town of Holland?

Start Holland septic questions with the town Board of Health, whose page provides a scheduling contact for perc tests and septic-system inspections.³ Massachusetts sanitary requirements apply statewide, with local health officers or boards administering individual sewage-disposal permits where authorized.⁴ Ask Holland’s Board of Health about the site evaluation, system design and local approval needed for your proposed dwelling.³⁴

The Holland Board of Health requires a true attested copy of the assessors’ parcel record for a complete building-permit application.³ Deed restrictions must be recorded, with a copy supplied to the Board of Health and assessors before any permit is granted.³ Confirm those records early rather than waiting until the building application is ready.³

Can you live in an RV or tiny home on land in the Town of Holland?

Holland prohibits using a house trailer, mobile home or trailer containing sleeping and eating accommodations as living quarters on a parcel, except for the specified manufactured-home rebuilding exception.⁵ Holland allows no more than 1 such unit on a parcel.⁵ The exception allows a manufactured home at the site of a residence destroyed by fire or another natural holocaust for no more than 12 months while rebuilding.¹³ That exception does not authorize ordinary trailer living while building a first home on vacant land.⁵

We could not confirm a Holland-specific tiny-home occupancy rule; ask the Building Department and Planning Board to review the proposed structure and use before buying it.⁹²

What are the steps to building a home in the Town of Holland?

1. Ask the Planning Board to identify the parcel’s zoning district, applicable site-plan review and any special-permit approval.²
2. Contact the Board of Health for septic review, perc-test scheduling and the required attested assessor record and recorded deed restrictions.³
3. Prepare the building application and scaled drawings where other town approvals are required, then deliver or mail the application to Holland’s Building Department.¹⁹
4. Apply for any electrical, plumbing or gas permits your work needs, and arrange application review with the Building Department.⁹
5. Obtain the building permit before the covered building work begins, and ask the department for the project’s inspection and occupancy requirements.¹⁹

What should you check before buying land in the Town of Holland?

For a Holland parcel with a proposed private well, ask the Board of Health whether a local well-site permit is required; Massachusetts law allows municipalities to impose that requirement but does not establish Holland’s answer.⁷³ Ask the same office to review any proposed sanitation alternative because we could not confirm Holland’s rules for non-septic off-grid sanitation.³

For land being divided, Holland has subdivision regulations, and state law requires applicable subdivision plans to go to the town Planning Board for approval before subdivision.¹⁴¹⁵ For land outside Holland, consult the Hampden County guide for the broader municipal-authority context; zoning rules differ by municipality.¹⁶

Watch-outs

• Holland’s manufactured-home rebuilding exception lasts no more than 12 months and applies to a destroyed residence, so do not plan on trailer occupancy while building on vacant land.⁵
• Holland’s published ADU special-permit table and statewide protected-ADU provisions need to be reconciled with the Planning Board for the proposed unit.¹¹¹²²
• We could not confirm Holland’s district-specific lot sizes, setbacks, height limits or building-permit fee amounts; request the applicable table and fee schedule from the Planning Board and Building Department.²⁹

Sources

1. Article I: General Permit Requirements - Town of Holland, MA (Town of Holland), quoted and re-checked
2. Town of Holland Planning Board (town.holland.ma.us)
3. Town of Holland Board of Health (town.holland.ma.us)
4. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 31E (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
5. Chapter 157: Mobile Homes and House Trailers - Town of Holland, MA (Town of Holland), quoted and re-checked
6. Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 142A, Section 14 (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
7. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 21G, Section 20 (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
8. Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 143, Section 3A: Enforcement of state building code (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
9. Town of Holland Building Department (town.holland.ma.us)
10. General Law, Chapter 40A, Section 4 (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
11. Article IV: Use Regulations - Town of Holland, MA (Town of Holland), quoted and re-checked
12. General Law - Part I, Title VII, Chapter 40A, Section 3 (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
13. Chapter 157: Mobile Homes and House Trailers - Town of Holland, MA (Town of Holland), quoted and re-checked
14. Table of Contents - Town of Holland, MA (Town of Holland), quoted and re-checked
15. Massachusetts General Laws c. 41, § 81O (Massachusetts statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
16. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40A, Section 1A, quoted and re-checked

Written October 12, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.