tenants vs home based business

mandm65

Do the tenants have automatic right to run a home based business from the rented property (using the home address as business address) or they need to seek the landlord’s permission?


Appreciate your views on above.
cheers

PasturesNew

It depends what type of business.

There's a world of difference between running a taxi office from the hallway, running as a childminder, working as a plumber/builder and getting deliveries to the address, or giving a home to JK Rowling to write her next best novel in.

PasturesNew

Oops, lost my connection when I wanted to say more....

I think that if a tenant runs a business from their home, it's only a Landlord's business if it is to the detriment of the property. You rent a place out, it's supposed to be their home. If you start limiting what people can/can't do in their own homes then you're trying to force a 2-class system on people: Homeowners who can develop, tenants who are downtrodden.

I think the next step is to require tenants to doff their caps when the LL swans past in the rolls.

There are issues, obviously, for example you could limit it and say no business that will require planning permission to run. But how far down the control route do your insecurities need to go?

princeofpounds

Tenants have a right to use the place as a home subject to local zoning/planning laws.

If that includes a home-based business it really has nothing to do with the landlord I would have thought.

I would imagine any restrictive clause on this would be classed as unfair and unenforceable, in much the same way as a clause saying you can't have guests, you can't play music, and you can't hang washing outside etc etc.

Cannon_Fodder

There are Tenancy Agreements with this clause;

"Not to carry on nor allow to be carried on any formal or registered trade profession or business from the Premises or to register a company at the address of the Premises."


I guess there would be concerns that the address could become known as "tainted" if a business failed and owed money. Plus insurance issues, due to differing uses of the property.

If it was a car, on HP or Leased, would it be ok to become a taxi driver, without considering if the terms allowed it?

If a tenant knows they run a business from home, they should pick a property to live in that fits that purpose. Some landlords might not mind. Others may come up with extra, perhaps better reasons why it should not be permitted.

ETA; a limited amount of ebaying, using an internet connection to work with no impact on the property etc, could well be ok to many landlords.

mandm65

Humm interesting argument put forward here to say the least and both arguments appear to have valid reasoning!!

N79

If the tenancy agreement is silent on the subject then the T can go ahead, subject to compliance with normal planning rules and understanding that they will have to make good any damage to the property caused by running the business.

I would agree that a blanket ban may be an unfair clause but I doubt very much that a clause along the lines of:

"Not to carry on nor allow to be carried on any formal or registered trade profession or business from the Premises or to register a company at the address of the Premises without the written permission of the LL which will not be unreasonably withheld."

would be held to be unfair (if it ever got that far) because clearly the LL has legitimate interests to protect while the T has legitimate rights to exercise. Such a clause deals with issues such as insurance, planning covenants etc.

NEH

I would say our contract says no business from home, so to me that would mean that you can't have it as a registered business address....

Plus you also have to think of it from the insurance point of view, running a business from home could invalidate the landlord's house insurance and you would need to get specialist business insurance in order to carry out your business....

Just working from home doesn't really cause an issue.

prudryden

LOL - Well, there goes the LL's building insurance up in smoke. I guess the tenant would be paying for the rest of his life if the building burnt down. I suppose the tenant would have to apply for change of use for the property - that could be difficult but then the govn't should be happy - business rates are better for them.

NEH

prudryden wrote: »

LOL - Well, there goes the LL's building insurance up in smoke. I guess the tenant would be paying for the rest of his life if the building burnt down. I suppose the tenant would have to apply for change of use for the property - that could be difficult but then the govn't should be happy - business rates are better for them.

You also have to be careful of what is in the deeds...My mum's house clearly states no business to be run from home...I presume if you did and there were complaints then the business could be stopped..

Is it you running a business from home?

tbs624

N79 wrote: »

If the tenancy agreement is silent on the subject then the T can go ahead, subject to compliance with normal planning rules and understanding that they will have to make good any damage to the property caused by running the business.

I would agree that a blanket ban may be an unfair clause but I doubt very much that a clause along the lines of:

"Not to carry on nor allow to be carried on any formal or registered trade profession or business from the Premises or to register a company at the address of the Premises without the written permission of the LL which will not be unreasonably withheld."

would be held to be unfair (if it ever got that far) because clearly the LL has legitimate interests to protect while the T has legitimate rights to exercise. Such a clause deals with issues such as insurance, planning covenants etc.

I think the concern here would be that the LL, if consenting to the T running a business from the property , may inadvertently grant the T the option to automatically renew the tenancy, rendering it no longer held under an AST agreement but subject to the LL&TA 1954?

There may be conditions within the LLs mortgage or insurance policy which preclude the running of businesses (general or specific) On NEH's point, one property of mine had a very specific covenant about certain businesses not being operated from the premises.

If the property is leasehold, a T running a business may need permission not just from the LL, but from the FHer