Starting a new business in a rental property

Dunsaw

Just a point for discussion however I’ll start with my experience. In 2010, I wanted to start a web based business but as I was in rental accommodation, I felt as if there was no point in speaking to my landlord or letting agent about granting permission for me to start a new company using my rental address as I knew the answer would be no!


I could not use my former home which was let (due to divorce and my relocating for work) as it was unthinkable to me that I could disturb my tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment by using their address for my business. Therefore I had to wait until 2012 when I was in my own property to register the business and get it started.


What about us campaigning for a change that would allow ASTs to automatically grant tenants the right to set up clerical or other business that their contents insurance will cover? If any business needs buildings insurance cover (as determined by the insurance company); the tenant can discuss the nature of the business with their landlord and pay the additional buildings insurance cost.


I know that you can set up registered address elsewhere but I found that for other business to take you seriously they needed landline contact telephone number, physical address for the business; etc. Also starting a business from home is cheaper at the start and you can always move to commercial premises if it all goes well.


I think this will allow our nation of shopkeepers to continue the tradition of small business especially as the web is now the new high street.


Have I missed something or am I being naive?

tim123456789

If you are just talking about sitting at a computer and receiving nothing more at your door than "standard post,

Then you do have that right

No-one (as in no-one in officialdom) is going to enforce a "no business" clause in these circumstances, and any LL who tries is an idiot.

This clause is aimed at stopping people run business where there is a trail of people visiting, or large amounts of stock are delivered or "manufacturing/repair is actually taking place, thereby causing inconvenience to the neighbours (and in the case of short term leases, increasing the risk of serious damage to the property)

tim

Dunsaw

True Tim and I agree.

What about registering a business and using my rental home address as the registered address of the business?

I found that as soon as my business was set up my details from companies house was all over the internet. Would a landlord take objection to that?

[Deleted User]

Dunsaw wrote: »

What about registering a business and using my rental home address as the registered address of the business?

I found that as soon as my business was set up my details from companies house was all over the internet. Would a landlord take objection to that?

I think you know the answer to that.

tim123456789

Dunsaw wrote: »

True Tim and I agree.

What about registering a business and using my rental home address as the registered address of the business?

I found that as soon as my business was set up my details from companies house was all over the internet.

really?

I've had a company registered (for admin purposes) at my residential address(es) for the past 30 years, and you have to look really really hard to find it on the internet

Kynthia

Registering a business at your address is not the same a running a business. However you can use a local accountants or solicitors firm's address for a fee. Landlords are mostly concerned with the tenant causes issues with increased traffic, excessive parking of cars, noise, lots of football, people potentially being hurt, health & safety, damage to the property, increased fire risk, etc. If you're just working on your computer, same as anyone working from home, it shouldn't be a problem.

grifferz

Dunsaw wrote: »

What about registering a business and using my rental home address as the registered address of the business?

I do this (computer work from home, limited company). No issues in 7 years. Landlord fine with it.

Dunsaw wrote: »

I found that as soon as my business was set up my details from companies house was all over the internet. Would a landlord take objection to that?

Generally speaking a landlord doesn't care about this. The actual reason why many tenancy agreements say not to run a business from the property is because a constant stream of visitors, deliveries, noise and disruption risks neighbour disputes.

If you are doing clerical/admin/computer work from home and are not going to cause disruption, but your agreement currently forbids running a business from the property, then there's two ways you could go with this:

• You could just do it anyway. Chances are the landlord will never find out, if they do find out they won't care, if they do care they will have to wait until the end of your fixed term to give you 2 months of notice with an S21 anyway. Or;
• You could write to your landlord and explain what you want to do and ask if it will be okay. Almost certainly they are going to say as long as it doesn't cause disruption then they are fine with it.

If you don't want your home address plastered all over Companies House web site then that is a separate issue. If it bothers you, rent a mailbox address (not a PO box; they aren't allowed for registered company addresses) or ask your accountant for use of their address. You are still running your business from home even if the correspondence address is elsewhere.

It's not just your landlord / tenancy agreement that can be affected by the way. Check the terms of your contents insurance. They often have a clause about not using the address for business purposes. Most policies allow clerical/admin/computer work, but a few don't, so you have to check.

Basically this is not a huge deal. Landlord may even appreciate that someone is indoors all day as it reduces risk of crime and makes it easier to get maintenance on the property done. Our landlord certainly appreciated it when it came time for them to sell and they were able to do viewings with an hour of notice!