Off-Grid Living in Orford, New Hampshire

I'll say this up front because it's the most important fact in this whole guide: Orford, New Hampshire has no zoning ordinance and no building inspector. That's confirmed on the town's own site. This makes Orford unusual, and unusually permissive on paper, but it also means fewer places to get a definitive answer when you have a specific question, so a phone call to the Select Board or Planning Board before you build is still worth doing.

Zoning and raw land. The Orford Planning Board's authority is limited to subdivision, curb-cut, and excavation regulations, not land-use zoning. There are no use districts, no minimum lot sizes, and no occupancy rules imposed by the town itself. If you're buying raw land here to live off-grid, you're not fighting a zoning code, because there isn't one.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I found no Orford ordinance addressing tiny homes or RV living directly. That's consistent with the town having no zoning ordinance to hang such rules on, but it also means there's no official written answer. I'd call the Select Board's office before parking a tiny home or RV as a permanent residence.

Building permits. There's no Building Inspector office in Orford. New Hampshire state law (RSA 155-A) leaves permit issuance up to towns that choose to adopt it, and Orford doesn't appear to run a building inspection program. Confirm current practice with the Select Board rather than assuming "no inspector" means "no rules at all."

Septic. This one is squarely a state matter. New Hampshire DES regulates individual sewage disposal systems statewide: any structure connected to a water supply must be connected to an approved wastewater system, plans must come from a licensed NH septic designer, and DES issues both a construction approval and, before use, an operation approval. Orford has no local health department layer on top of this; the town's Health Officer role is folded into the Fire Department.

Greywater. No Orford-specific rule exists, and honestly, New Hampshire doesn't have a dedicated residential greywater rule either. It falls under the same general ISDS/septic rules that are really written for sewage, not separate greywater systems, so this stays genuinely unclear.

Rainwater harvesting. No Orford restriction found. Rainwater collection is generally allowed under the state's adopted plumbing/residential code for the indoor-use pieces.

Wells. Licensed at the state level through the NH Water Well Board program; no added Orford layer was found.

Full off-grid disconnection. No Orford ordinance mandates hookup to water or sewer. The DES rule that ties wastewater disposal to water supply connection is triggered by having a water supply, not by a town mandate, so a genuinely off-grid structure without piped water may sidestep it, but confirm that reading with DES and the town before you count on it.

Bottom line: Orford's lack of zoning and building enforcement gives you real freedom, but state DES rules on septic and wells still fully apply, and a few dimensions here are open questions rather than settled permissions.