Restrictive Covenants In Lease - Renting Out A Room

djsunset_2

I am considering a purchase on a leasehold flat with a long lease.

It is a conversion of a house into 4 flats, and the freeholder is a specialist freeholding company.

One of the terms of the lease is "not to use or permit to be used the demised premises for any purpose other than a private dwelling for the occupation of one family only, or for any immoral or illegal purpose or for any purpose which may cause nuisance to the owners, leaseholders, or occupiers of the other flats in the building or neighborhood"

I am a bit worried about this clause. Does the fact that it says "one family only" mean that I cannot rent out spare room in the flat to a friend, colleague, student or lodger etc?

Also, if I am self-employed/working from home, will I be breaching the lease terms? Say if I am working from home - for example as a writer, software developer, online share trading, consultant, private tutor or anything else which doesn't cause noise or nuisance to the other residents, can the freeholder take action against me? What would be the likely outcome?

Any links to previous cases on either of the above issues would be appreciated.

Thanks

djsunset_2

Also, if it did end up in tribunal/court, would they look only at the terms of the lease, or would take into account whether or not the said activities (renting out a spare room, working from home) caused a nuisance/disturbance to the other residents/neighbors?

sooz

Your solicitor would be the person to ask for legal advice on your potential purchase.

However, in my opinion,

'One family' is a very wide definition. If you were to take a lodger, I'm sure you could find 6 degrees of seperation or less between you.

'specialist freeholding company' :rotfl:
have you tried googling to see how awful they really are. Most are.

Working from home would normally ok if you don't bring clients into the property. Private tutor may be an issue.

BitterAndTwisted

I can't see where in that clause having a paying-guest, lodger or pal staying with you long-term would would infringe the clause. Once they're living with you they become part of your de facto "family"

Also, working from home to sit at a computer all day isn't what the clause about running a business from the property is intended to prevent.

Both of the conditions are quite usual in leases of this sort. Please stop worrying.

ReadingTim

There are essentially 4 sub clauses in this clause, as follows:

1 - a "private dwelling" ie home not business premises
2 - not for more than one family
3 - not for "any immoral or illegal purpose"
4 - not for anything that "may cause nuisance to the owners, leaseholders, or occupiers of the other flats in the building or neighborhood"

As stated above, this is all standard stuff, and on the face of it, prevents you from running a business from the premises, renting the other room to someone else, especially if they're a prostitute or cannabis farmer, or using it as a rehearsal space for drummers or bagpipe players...

Obviously, break any of those, and the freeholder could terminate your lease, and throw you out, in the same way as you could get knocked over by a bus, or get hit by a bolt of lightening. In terms of the things that would cause them to terminate you lease, it's probably 3, 4, 1, 2 in terms of seriousness, but as suggested above, most freeholding companies are useless, and wouldn't do a thing...

djsunset_2

Your solicitor would be the person to ask for legal advice on your potential purchase

Thats true, but he is being very cautious on these matters to cover himself, advising me on what could happen rather than how likely it is to happen.

'One family' is a very wide definition. ... I can't see where in that clause having a paying-guest, lodger or pal staying with you long-term would would infringe the clause. Once they're living with you they become part of your de facto "family"

But can someone completely unrelated to me really be regarded as my family? What is the point in having this clause at all then? To stop student sharers etc I assume?

'specialist freeholding company'
have you tried googling to see how awful they really are. Most are

and this one in particular I have googled and it seems they are very bad at answering the phone and replying to letters. So if I wanted to get clarification on these matters beforehand, I might struggle.

Both of the conditions are quite usual in leases of this sort. Please stop worrying.

Easier said than done. I don't want to make a big financial commitment only to find out that I cannot earn income through working from home or renting out the spare room.

Do you think basically that if the occupiers of other flats in the building do not complain, I will be OK? Would other occupiers have to prove that my activities are causing nuisance, or is the mere fact that I am renting out a room to someone unrelated to me enough for them to have a case? I don't know whether to try and deal with these issues first (which could delay exchange) or just take the chance that no problems will arise in the future