Leasehold issues with working from home

matt_matt_matthew

Apologies if in wrong board but i'm a self employed artist currently at parents home. I'm in the process of purchasing my first flat, cash buyer so no mortgage issues. The flat is a leasehold and the lease states 'no trade business or profession of any kind to be carried on in the flat'. Having researched this it seems that it's to try and avoid noise and other disturbances with neighbours. i work at a small desk and create no noise issues, i have no visitors or traffic. Space wise just like someone who does it for a hobby, the work space in the new flat will be in my bedroom so it will be a domestic space as well.

Is this worth mentioning now before the sale goes through, shall i wait until i move in and then get in contact with the leaseholder (the council actually hold the lease) or shall i just not mention it at all? main concern is issues with council tax and insurance if i don't declare that i work from the flat. 

Thanks in advance 

user1977

I would treat the lease covenant as irrelevant if you're not doing anything which affects the neighbours' or freeholder's interests in the flat, which it doesn't sound like you are. Different if you were doing something involving e.g. clients visiting, work-related deliveries, a task which created noise / smells etc, or changing the overall use of the property.

The covenant has nothing to do with council tax or insurance. Council tax isn't relevant if the use is ancillary to residential (which it is - you're not turning the flat into an artist's studio), probably the only thing to watch for insurance is cover for things like work-related tools.

elsien

If it has no impact on other people - no increased visitors, traffic, parking issues or noise, no-one is going to know unless you tell them. 

It won’t affect your council tax - there’s lots of us working from home nowadays after all, and your insurance is not shared with anyone else.
So unless you’re storing a large amount of flammable materials (for example) that could be a risk to others I wouldn’t say anything.
It’s only ever going to be an issue if someone complains. Seems very unlikely that that would ever be the case. 

matt_matt_matthew

Thanks for the replies, i was contemplating letting my solicitor know about the situation, but unsure if they would be legally obliged to tell the leaseholder or if they would just do what i instructed them to do. I'm probably way over thinking this but as first time buyer i'm thinking of worst case scenarios. 

user1977

matt_matt_matthew said:

i was contemplating letting my solicitor know about the situation, but unsure if they would be legally obliged to tell the leaseholder 

No, they're not. You can seek legal advice from your solicitor without fearing them grassing on you to other parties! (ETA the common exception being that you can't expect them to hide things from your mortgage lender if they're also acting for them)

JReacher1

If all you are doing is painting at home then it’s the same as anyone working from home. Would only be an issue if you put a sign up and actually traded from the flat. 

eddddy

matt_matt_matthew said:

 i wait until i move in and then get in contact with the leaseholder (the council actually hold the lease) or shall i just not mention it at all? 

Just to clarify - when you buy the flat, you will be the leaseholder (i.e. you will own the lease)
.
The council will be your freeholder.


Perhaps the most important thing to check is insurance. Normally with flats, the freeholder (the council) arranges the buildings insurance. You need to make sure that you're not doing anything that might void a buildings insurance claim.

I guess there might be issues if, for example, you store flammable artists materials which start a fire or make a fire worse, or 'baddies' know or suspect that you have expensive artwork stored in the flat - and it encourages them to break in.


(It's probably a remote risk, but if, for example, there's a fire, and you've done something to void the insurance - the council and the other flat owners could expect you to pay for all the fire damage - so it could be quite serious.)

Brie

I haven't heard of anyone having problems with this over the last couple of years when the vast majority of office workers were WFH.  I think that would have set a precedent for any come back.

matt_matt_matthew

eddddy said:

matt_matt_matthew said:

 i wait until i move in and then get in contact with the leaseholder (the council actually hold the lease) or shall i just not mention it at all? 

Just to clarify - when you buy the flat, you will be the leaseholder (i.e. you will own the lease)
.
The council will be your freeholder.


Perhaps the most important thing to check is insurance. Normally with flats, the freeholder (the council) arranges the buildings insurance. You need to make sure that you're not doing anything that might void a buildings insurance claim.

I guess there might be issues if, for example, you store flammable artists materials which start a fire or make a fire worse, or 'baddies' know or suspect that you have expensive artwork stored in the flat - and it encourages them to break in.


(It's probably a remote risk, but if, for example, there's a fire, and you've done something to void the insurance - the council and the other flat owners could expect you to pay for all the fire damage - so it could be quite serious.)

Within the legal pack i received the seller has stated that 'the seller is responsible for arranging the buildings insurance on the property' and that the landlord doesn't insure the building, so i'm thinking that i could just get my own insurance that covers certain aspects of the business on top of the normal insurance. It is just a flat in a terraced street so there's also no building management either. 

Many thanks for the replies. 

Slithery

matt_matt_matthew said:

eddddy said:

matt_matt_matthew said:

 i wait until i move in and then get in contact with the leaseholder (the council actually hold the lease) or shall i just not mention it at all? 

Just to clarify - when you buy the flat, you will be the leaseholder (i.e. you will own the lease)
.
The council will be your freeholder.


Perhaps the most important thing to check is insurance. Normally with flats, the freeholder (the council) arranges the buildings insurance. You need to make sure that you're not doing anything that might void a buildings insurance claim.

I guess there might be issues if, for example, you store flammable artists materials which start a fire or make a fire worse, or 'baddies' know or suspect that you have expensive artwork stored in the flat - and it encourages them to break in.


(It's probably a remote risk, but if, for example, there's a fire, and you've done something to void the insurance - the council and the other flat owners could expect you to pay for all the fire damage - so it could be quite serious.)

Within the legal pack i received the seller has stated that 'the seller is responsible for arranging the buildings insurance on the property' and that the landlord doesn't insure the building, so i'm thinking that i could just get my own insurance that covers certain aspects of the business on top of the normal insurance. It is just a flat in a terraced street so there's also no building management either. 

Many thanks for the replies. 

Very unusual.
You'll need specialist flat insurance as standard buildings insurance policies don't cover flats. What does the lease have to say about insurance?

bouicca21

I have a similar term in my lease, as do both my children on their homes.  We all wfh, though I suppose in my case it’s more hobby since I’m retired and don’t rely on it for income. 

 None of us run a conventional business - no clients visiting, no deliveries, no extra traffic.  We’re just sitting in front of computers.  At least two other leaseholders in my block are doing the same.  None of us have experienced a problem or complaint.