Building permits, zoning and septic rules across New York

None. Of the 62 New York counties we checked, 61 require a residential building permit in unincorporated areas and 1 requires one only in some cases². Washington County is the limited entry, which does not mean a home there can go up without a building permit².

The Uniform Code applies everywhere outside New York City, and the local authority enforces it; a municipality can exempt listed work such as a detached shed of 144 square feet or less^1,9. If a municipality opts out of enforcing the code, the county takes over, and the state does if the county opts out too¹⁰.

A permit application must give the tax map number and street address, the occupancy classification and construction documents⁹. The Department of State's August 2022 fee schedule lists $200 for the first 1,500 square feet of a one- or two-family home and $100 for each additional 1,000; local authorities may add their own fees⁶. The lack of a state contractor license is not an exemption from permits; see the owner-builder county pages⁷.

We could not confirm a statewide rule on living in an RV on private New York land, and none of the 62 counties has its own reviewed RV answer². Ask the municipal zoning office about residential use and the health authority about wastewater¹¹.

State campground rules, such as the 14-night camping permit limit at DEC campgrounds, apply only there and do not answer living on your own land¹².

Ulster County is the only county with a tiny-home answer, limited by its building-code enforcement role; the other 61 are unanswered, not allowed or prohibited². A home covered by the state codes still needs a building permit and a certificate of occupancy¹.

Lewis County leads the Bolthole Index's New York scores at 74, then Franklin and Steuben at 71, Allegany and Washington at 70, and Cattaraugus, Clinton and Schoharie at 69². All eight have no countywide zoning and require building permits, except Washington's limited classification; septic is county-level except Franklin (state) and Steuben (health district)².

The median county farmland value is $4,402 per acre, and Lewis County's is $2,328; these are farmland statistics, not asking prices for buildable parcels². The median county effective property tax rate is 2.2% and the median bill $3,968 a year, which does not estimate tax on a vacant tract².

Small domestic water uses are exempt from region-specific water permitting, but we could not confirm the residential well-construction permit rules; ask the health authority having jurisdiction before drilling¹³. Suffolk and Nassau counties sit inside special groundwater regimes¹³. DEC requires the well contractor to give notice before drilling and file a completion report¹⁴.

A residence on a State highway needs a NYSDOT permit to build or modify a driveway; the owner or contractor applies online, and homeowners doing their own work are exempt from insurance requirements⁸. Fees are in NYSDOT's permit fee matrix⁸. Ask the NYSDOT resident engineer⁸. A driveway onto a local road is not covered by that state rule⁸.

In mapped flood hazard areas, private development needs a local floodplain development permit¹⁵. Farms in an agricultural district are protected from unreasonable local restrictions, but the rule is not a blanket exemption¹⁶.

A town board may authorize its planning board to review subdivisions outside villages, and what counts as a subdivision is defined by local law¹⁷. A conditionally approved final plat does not authorize building permits until the conditions are met and the plat is signed and recorded¹⁷. Community water or sewers may be required when public services are available, groundwater is poor or the site is unsuitable for onsite wastewater treatment¹⁸. Ask the town planning board before buying a piece of a larger parcel.