Off-Grid Living in Fayette County, Tennessee

I've been digging through Fayette County, Tennessee's official pages to figure out what off-grid living actually looks like here, and the short version is: it's doable, especially if you're out in the unincorporated county, but you can't skip permits.

Zoning and land use. Fayette County isn't one of those "no zoning" Tennessee counties. The county's Planning & Development office administers a countywide Zoning Resolution and reviews land division for things like access, drainage, and utilities. If you're buying raw land, check with that office before assuming you can do whatever you want with it.

Dwellings, tiny homes, RVs. I couldn't find a Fayette County page that specifically addresses tiny houses, Appendix Q, or living in an RV full-time. That doesn't mean it's banned, it just means the county hasn't published clear guidance, so you're relying on the state baseline and general building code enforcement. Call Planning & Development before you commit to a structure type.

Building permits. The county requires a building permit for constructing, altering, or moving any structure, this is confirmed on Fayette County's own site. Importantly, the county's own building-permit instructions say you need an approved septic permit before you can get your building permit. There's also a separate fill-material permit process through the Department of Public Works if grading is involved.

Septic and composting toilets. Septic is state-mandated but locally administered, and the Fayette County Health Department handles permitting here. I didn't find a Fayette-specific online septic portal page like some other Tennessee counties have, so call the health department directly to confirm current procedure. No dry-cabin or composting-toilet exemption is confirmed for Fayette County.

Greywater and rainwater. No county-specific rules turned up for either one. Rainwater collection doesn't appear restricted anywhere in what I reviewed. Greywater reuse is genuinely unclear, since there's no Fayette County page addressing it, so it inherits whatever the state baseline is, and I'd get that confirmed with the health department before building a system.

Wells. This is actually the most solid finding: Fayette County's own materials describe unincorporated homeowners as routinely digging their own wells and running individual septic systems, since there's no countywide public water/sewer system outside the towns. Wells fall under state licensing rules (the Water Well Act) rather than added county permitting.

Utility disconnection. Going off-grid electrically looks unrestricted. Water and sewer "disconnection" is really just the norm outside the incorporated towns of Somerville, Oakland, Piperton, Gallaway, LaGrange, and Moscow, since well-and-septic is standard there anyway. Inside those towns, each one runs its own utility department, and I didn't find their individual rules in this pass, so check with the specific town if that's where your land is.

Bottom line: unincorporated Fayette County is fairly friendly to off-grid setups, but the building permit and septic permit are the two non-negotiables, and several other questions (tiny homes, greywater specifics) just aren't spelled out publicly yet.