Restrictive covenants..working from home

Charliesmomuk_2

Hi:) I'm new here so if I am in the wrong spot please be patient!

My husband and I are planning to buy a small established business. This entails hubby on the road with his van and me at home doing the books.
However we have discovered that our home , which is ex council (some years ago..we bought it when it was already private) has a restrictive covenant saying it can't be used for business.
Many of the ex council houses around us ARE already used for home businesses, I know for a fact but I want to ensure we do things legally.
Can anyone advise me, is it better to take out an indemnity insurance (to prevent us being taken to court) or is it better to try ad have the restriction lifted on the grounds of it being obsolete for the purpose?

ANY advice gratefully received!
Julie

PasturesNew

What sort of business is it? It might need planning permission to run it from a residential premises anyway.

Not all businesses are the same.

e.g. where's the van kept? how often would your husband come/go per day? what times/what days? would customers ever come to your house?

It is more about nuisance than business.

If you were running a taxi firm from home, coming/going at all hours with another 1-2-3 drivers over time, that'd be annoying, so not wanted.

If you are just doing the books from home, but the business is vegetable wholesaling and your husband takes the small van out in the morning, goes to the warehouse and operates from the warehouse all day before returning home at 6pm and handing over all the paperwork for you to sort out then that isn't really running a business from home.

Debt_Free_Chick

Working from home is not necessarily the same as running a business from home.

Doing the books at home is not "running a business from home" in my view. It's no different to attending to your personal finances.

lincroft1710

What the restriction means is you cannot use the house (or part) as business premises. E.g. you cannot set up a hairdressing salon in the front room, a car repair business in the garage, kennels or a cattery in outbuildings etc.

Charliesmomuk_2

Thank you for your replies!
There will be no coming or going of customers.. my husband will disappear with his van in the morning and return in the evening.. minimal activity near the home of any sort..it's just me keeping the books on my bedroom pc!

Hopefully we can do that without causing any problems!
Jules

poppysarah

No stock and no visitors to your house will be the main issues.

There's nothing they can do about you parking a van outside unless you've got strange restrictive convenents about commercial vehicles.

If it doesn't interfere with the neighbours quiet enjoyment it's almost certainly not going to be a problem.