Self-Employment and Tenancy Agreement

actresskat

Hi,

I really want to start a small business as a soletrader making and selling tablecloths at craft fairs and online. My standard tenancy agreement forbids this from what I can tell. I've researched and can see that most risks can be solved e.g. protecting the privacy of the rental address by using a PO Box, having no room purely dedicated to the business, keeping noise down, no increase in parking/traffic outside, no professionals visiting etc. Also my partner is 100% responsible for the rent.

What do you think my success rate will be at getting permission from the landlords?

Also can you use a PO Box to register the 'business address' part of a self-employment form with at HMRC? If I can, won't this take the use of the landlords address out of the equation?

Really, really thanks for your help!

texranger

actresskat wrote: »

Hi,

I really want to start a small business as a soletrader making and selling tablecloths at craft fairs and online. My standard tenancy agreement forbids this from what I can tell. I've researched and can see that most risks can be solved e.g. protecting the privacy of the rental address by using a PO Box, having no room purely dedicated to the business, keeping noise down, no increase in parking/traffic outside, no professionals visiting etc. Also my partner is 100% responsible for the rent.

What do you think my success rate will be at getting permission from the landlords?

Also can you use a PO Box to register the 'business address' part of a self-employment form with at HMRC? If I can, won't this take the use of the landlords address out of the equation?

Really, really thanks for your help!

some landlords will have tenacy insurance which forbids a business from being operated from their addresses, also they will be registered with their local authority who may also stipulate that businesses cant be run or their licences will be revoked just like local authorities will not allow the running of a business from local authority houses.

even using a PO box the business will still be run from your address. it is not just dont run a business as you disclose the address.

actresskat

Thanks Texranger. I don't suppose there's any sort of insurance I could get to combat the tenancy insurance problem if they cite that as a reason? Or any advice on what to do if they refuse on those grounds?

Premier_2

actresskat wrote: »

Hi,

I really want to start a small business as a soletrader making and selling tablecloths at craft fairs and online. My standard tenancy agreement forbids this from what I can tell. I've researched and can see that most risks can be solved e.g. protecting the privacy of the rental address by using a PO Box, having no room purely dedicated to the business, keeping noise down, no increase in parking/traffic outside, no professionals visiting etc. Also my partner is 100% responsible for the rent.

What do you think my success rate will be at getting permission from the landlords?

Also can you use a PO Box to register the 'business address' part of a self-employment form with at HMRC? If I can, won't this take the use of the landlords address out of the equation?

Really, really thanks for your help!

Insurance and planning permission may well prohibit a business from being run from the property which is presumably designated as residential.

There's usually no issue with the address being a registered business address (or even basic bookkeeping for the business), the issues are all about keeping stock at the premises, people visiting, increased traffic movements (deliveries, shipments, etc).

So as long as you keep the stock elsewhere (perhaps rent a lock up?) and trade from a craft fair, you should have no issues. Running a mail order business from your home may well be prohibited for the above reasons, so perhaps you'll need to rent a business unit if you wish to pursue this line.

Annisele

I think the best thing you can do is ring your LL and ask.

I've run a business from home (with the written permission of my LL) despite the tenancy agreement initially saying that I couldn't. He wanted to know exactly what I'd be doing, I told him, and he was fine.

Your LL might give a blanket no, or he might have some reason to refuse that you haven't even thought of yet - and until you know what he actually does think, it's hard to say anything helpful.

Savvy_Sue

Agree with Annisele, a social landlord will have it as a standard clause, but - at least the one I used to work for - permission won't be unreasonably refused. If you want to repair cars or run a recycling business from home then the answer will be a big fat 'no', because they're likely to cause a 'nuisance'. Making tablecloths less so ... although I suppose if you're in a flat with appalling soundproofing the noise of the machine might go through the floors!

So, is it a private landlord or a social landlord?

actresskat

Wow! Thank you all very much for your responses. To answer, we live in a house on a no-through road (it has bollards in the middle of it) and we have few neighbours - more garages - as it's a quiet back lane so it's already exceptionally quiet traffic-wise.

As for deliveries, I'd maybe only get two trucks a month. And for storage I'm only going to start with a box or two of tablecloths, nothing huge, just to see how it goes, obviously if it grows a lot a lock-up is a great idea. I'll be a little more than a glorified ebay seller at first!

I've emailed the letting agent to see what the landlords say...