Off-Grid Living in North Hampton, New Hampshire

I've been digging through North Hampton, New Hampshire's zoning ordinance and the state septic rules to see what off-grid living actually looks like here, and the short version is: this is a zoned New England town with real permit requirements, not a place to quietly disappear onto raw land.

Zoning. North Hampton has its own Zoning Ordinance and map, maintained by the town, dividing the community into districts (an R-1 High Density district among them). Land use, including how wetlands can count toward lot area, is spelled out by the town, not left open. If your lot has significant wetlands, there are specific limits on how much of that can count toward minimum lot size, and lots two acres or larger need a chunk of contiguous non-wetland soil plus a building envelope, per the ordinance.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. The ordinance defines "temporary structures" as anything not on a permanent foundation, and it requires a permit for any temporary structure, sign-off from the Building Inspector on safety, and caps you at one such structure per lot. In plain terms, that makes living long-term in an RV or a tiny house on wheels a tough sell as a permanent residence. I could not confirm whether RVs are tolerated as long-term housing outside of a campground setting, so that's a question for the Building Department.

Building permits. The Town's Building Department issues and enforces permits, and the ordinance is explicit that no permit for new construction gets issued until the Building Inspector has an NH DES-approved septic and leach field site plan in hand. That's a hard gate: no state septic approval, no local building permit.

Septic and composting toilets. Septic systems in New Hampshire are regulated by NH DES statewide, not by the town itself. The process runs through DES approval of your plans, then an Approval for Construction, and finally an Approval for Operation before you can use it. North Hampton's own site doesn't address composting toilets separately, so I'd call that unconfirmed at the local level and worth a direct question to the Building Department.

Greywater and rainwater. I found nothing specific to North Hampton on either topic. That likely means the town defers to whatever the state's plumbing and residential codes say, but I can't confirm a local rule either way, so treat both as open questions.

Wells. No town-specific well ordinance turned up in my research. Wells in New Hampshire generally fall under the state Water Well Board's framework, and the town doesn't appear to layer on its own separate well rules, though I can't fully rule that out.

Utilities. The town doesn't seem to mandate hooking up to municipal water or sewer (there isn't one for most of the town anyway), but since new construction permits require that DES-approved septic plan, going fully off-grid on wastewater, say composting-only with no septic, isn't clearly allowed. That's a real gap in what's publicly documented, so it deserves a direct call to the Building Department before you commit to a plan.

Bottom line: North Hampton is workable for an off-grid-style homestead if you're doing conventional septic and a permitted permanent structure, but it's not a place for unpermitted or fully disconnected living. Confirm the gray areas, especially RVs, composting toilets, and greywater, directly with the town before you buy land or build.