Restrictive Covenant - Working from home

Giggidy

Before I check this with our solicitor... There are a few Restrictive Covenants registered on our purchase property, one of which is '..No trade or business shall at time be set up or carried on in or upon the land hereby transferred or any part thereof..' 

Working from home, sole trader, no production lines or manufacturing, so no disturbance to neighbours as such. Would this be an issue, and how would it be enforced, can a neighbour complain? With more people having to work from home and home offices now, is this still enforceable?

comeandgo

If you are an employee working from home you are not setting up or carrying on a trade or business. As a sole trader you are.  We have that in our deeds and the residents association has the right to ask someone to stop or will take legal action but we have never had to do it.  We do have a couple of residents who’s business is run from their home but it’s not resulting in extra traffic or nuisance so we just ignore it.  

Giggidy

It's a Freehold property, so I guess I'm just wondering how would this be enforced and by whom? 

molerat

Giggidy said:

It's a Freehold property, so I guess I'm just wondering how would this be enforced and by whom? 

It could be enforced by whoever set the covenant - previous land owner, builder etc, firstly with a solicitor's letter then court action.

It all depends on what you are doing.  If it is purely an office type set up with no / few visitors or deliveries then unless someone is really snooping then I doubt anything will ever come of it.  A lot of these covenants are set for new developments as the seller doesn't want their nice peaceful residential development looking like an industrial estate whilst they are selling the houses.  Once they have moved on they usually don't give a stuff what happens.  On the other hand if the land was owned by the church they often have moral grounds to no business being carried out.

Section62

Giggidy said:

It's a Freehold property, so I guess I'm just wondering how would this be enforced and by whom? 

The beneficiaries of the covenant could take legal action against you (if you are in breach).

The beneficiaries could include the original land owner, the developer, neighbours and/or the local council (etc). 'Who' will be specified in the deeds.

Depending on the activity you may also need planning consent, and/or a licence from the council.

One of the common causes of complaint are vehicles associated with the business either in terms of traffic, or parking.  For example, a plumber may operate their business from home and not have 'production' which disturbs neighbours, but the parking of a van (on a driveway or street) might be cause for complaint.

newsgroupmonkey_

Giggidy said:

It's a Freehold property, so I guess I'm just wondering how would this be enforced and by whom? 

By whoever put the covenant in (or is now entitled to the benefit, so sometimes a neighbour)

The reason these are put in is because of the increased traffic. So if for instance you were a hairdresser, non-visiting mortgage advisor or physiotherapist, you could create nuisance because of the extra cars parking etc.

If on the other hand, you're an IT contractor, I don't think that's particularly an issue for anyone.

How would a neighbour know if you work for yourself or are an employee? And why would it make any difference.

user1977

Giggidy said:

Before I check this with our solicitor... There are a few Restrictive Covenants registered on our purchase property, one of which is '..No trade or business shall at time be set up or carried on in or upon the land hereby transferred or any part thereof..' 

Working from home, sole trader, no production lines or manufacturing, so no disturbance to neighbours as such. Would this be an issue, and how would it be enforced, can a neighbour complain? With more people having to work from home and home offices now, is this still enforceable?

It's enforceable if you were actually causing some sort of problem, such as using the place for manufacturing, distribution, or having clients visiting. But nobody knows or cares whether what you're tapping into your laptop at your kitchen table is work-related or personal.

Giggidy

For the most part it is just tapping away on the laptop, but once or twice a month I do get deliveries or collections of stock which arrive on pallets and go out in numerous mailbags, so it's not enough to cause much or any disturbance but it is noticeable that business is being conducted. With our luck we could end up living next to Victor Mildrew so I was just curious if this could be a problem

Section62

Giggidy said:

For the most part it is just tapping away on the laptop, but once or twice a month I do get deliveries or collections of stock which arrive on pallets and go out in numerous mailbags, so it's not enough to cause much or any disturbance but it is noticeable that business is being conducted. With our luck we could end up living next to Victor Mildrew so I was just curious if this could be a problem

Do the pallets arrive on some kind of lorry, or on a (<3.5tonne) van?

Are the mailbags collected by RM vans?

chanz4

argos dels on a truck, they are old things wouldnt worry about

Section62

chanz4 said:

argos dels on a truck, they are old things wouldnt worry about

What have Argos got to do with the OP's situation?

What are "old things"?