I want to start a business in rented home

[Appleholic]

AIBU? I looked at my rental agreement on my home and it said I cannot run a business from my home as it is residential. So I write to my landlord asking permission if I can run a craft business from home he says no way would break my tenancy agreement. He said I cannot trade from my home premises, I said what if I provide a service in people's homes eg cleaning, or nails etc he said fine as long as not trading from home. Because trading from my home affects shared building insurance and the lease is residential only.

How could I run a craft business still? Without breaching my tenancy.

Would it be reasonable to pay for a virtual office address and mail Po box service?

Does the rule mean I can't register my home address for hmrc even if I found somewhere else?? ( rent a room) for my crafting.

It's very stressful and confusing. Anybody with legal knowledge or business experience that can come up with solutions pls.

The standard tenancy agreements most LL use has that clause contained within it. You’d need permission from your LL first. But the property needs to remain primarily residential, and the nuisance to neighbours etc rules apply as above. Maybe the food rules only applies to some councils, a previous one I had didn’t allow it.

Wahine Toa,
Thanks for your replies. If not too nosy a question, what kind of businesses did you run from a rented address?

Just to clarify you said on a previous post you can process orders online and sell online on your PC in your rental and that's legally ok, as long as you don't use your rental address in any online selling transactions. As that would then be breaching your lease if you used your residential address as a business address.

Ive just been worrying about it, as don't want to do the wrong thing. That's why I asked permission from freeholder first and they said not allowed from address. That's why I wanted advice from someone in same situation.

You really need your LL approval for whatever you do. But I had online business services and not products. It’s not illegal to process the orders from your home. But for whatever you wish to do, it’s best to clear it with the LL so you maintain a good relationship. The issue for them is usually the type of mortgage they have, if it would affect neighbours or council laws etc You definitely can’t use the residential address if he’s already said and you’ve signed the lease that includes that clause.

I asked the landlord and it's not mortgaged btw. It's on the lease that it's primarily residential and I was told I can't trade from the address. I asked for e.g if I could be a mobile hairdresser as that is away from the address. They just said as long as your not trading out of your flat that's ok.

It's very confusing, I just looked online and it said if you register for self assessment with hmrc as a sole trader you still need to give them your residential address, is that correct ?

See that's the problem, as long as I'm not using my physical address I take it .not breaching my agreement?

I’ve explained this to you multiple times and have already answered that question. It doesn’t matter for your personal address, legally that is your actual address. Business address has to be different. Not confusing at all.

If I had items I was selling I guess I could rent storage for them, so there not at my property.
What about if your a plein air painter ( painting in public spaces) as an example that would be done away from your property. Or cleaning peoples houses,

Wahine Toa,

Sorry if I'm confusing you. What I meant was if I use a virtual address for a business on my self assessment form, do hmrc on the form still also need my physical address at the same time?

We don’t rent but I didn’t want my personal address in the public domain, so use accountants address.

Just to add if the tenancy agreement says "you must not run or operate a business from the premises" then you are probably stuck with it, although in this modern world, it might be deemed an unfair blanket term contrary to consumer law if you wanted to challenge that landlord.

If your tenancy agreement says no business without landlord's prior consent, that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld.

That will then depend on the type of business.

A crafting business in one room, which causes no extra wear and tear, isn't dangerous (not using fire etc) no customers, should probably be given consent.

Other businesses, like Car mechanics, hairdressing, prostitution, cooking meth not so!

Sorry don't know much about this but could you use a family members address if they own their home?

Not too relevant, OP, but just an anecdote.

My mother used to rent out a flat and the tenant (who was a bit of a chancer) wanted to start a child-minding business there. My mum said no, and explained carefully why not - and that she wasn't just being obstructive.

Woman ignored her and secretly went ahead. Cars arriving, noise etc, all caused problems with the neighbours and lost goodwill, and God knows what the insurance situation would have been had any accident etc happened to the children - my elderly mother would probably have been liable.

There are reasons for the rules.

I don't know much about this but am a landlord and it popped up as an issue for us recently. At the end of the day HMRC may have riles which state something which is contrary to rules when renting. If HMRC require a residential address for a sole trader but you are renting its just one of those things. HMRC won't change the rules and nor will most landlords. We were advised that there is a liability issue from a business perspective which just isn't there for individuals a but like when a house could be black listed fir credit due to someone living there which no longer happens. There are too many areas (mortgage, insurance, liability) for most landlords so that's why it's a standard clause. The business must be registered elsewhere and there are some grey areas over what goes on in the house in terms of someone with a business registered elsewhere just like people working from home when employed.

No unfortunately as it would affect there insurance so not ok.

Teenage years.vand culture pigeon

I was thinking about providing a service in clients own homes, no people visiting my home, noise, nuisance or big deliveries. That's what I'm querying and after advice. It'ts obvious that would be taking the mickey a childminder business, or hair inside the home, or massage service.
I'm talking about as an example cleaning private homes for people, or selling crafted items, ( would need to rent storage for supplies).

I asked my landlord permission and they just said as long as your not trading out of your address. Meaning I think, that you can't use the post address for business or actual address for business with clients coming to you etc. As long as I'm not doing either I'm assuming that's ok. As it won't affect buildings insurance or tenancy agreement ?

My understanding is that would be okay. No paper trail linking the business to the address and no liability having people come to the house for business purposes or goods stored.

Teenage years
Thanks for reply 🙏

I run a business from home (rented) and the address registered with HMRC/Companies House is my accountant's address. This was done off the back of my accountant's advice so I assume (hope!) it's the correct/legal way to do things.

YOU can make crafts at home, sell them online and use a family members address as the business address on your website. However, when you register with hmrc you will have to use your home address. The exception to this is candles, wax melts, bath and body products and anything containing fragrance or essential oils. The address on the clp and product labels has to be the address that they were made at and has to include makers name, house number, postcode and telephone number.
Most private landlords will refuse permission for these because there are not. Any house insurance companies who will agree cover for these items being made on the premises.

OP83
Out of interest roughly how much does your accountant charge for letting you use there mailing address?

Sugarplumfairy

Thats interesting advice to know about candles etc.
Do you run a craft business from rented o

Have you done a detailed business plan including all your expenses? The vast majority of craft businesses are paid hobbies, and most just break even at best. The competition is immense, most craft businesses pricing structures are set just to make enough to fund more materials and therefore undercut those businesses that are factoring in a profit. You need to include all your expenses, not just the basic supplies, website fees, liability insurance, transport costs, card payment fees, rental space, and make sure you factor in the rise in costs going into the future.

Ignore me if you have a high end product, with plenty of profit margin and a loyal customer base already but making money out of crafting is really hard, especially now that it is easy to pick up relatively cheap equipment.

Because trading from my home affects shared building insurance and the lease is residential only.

what is shared building insurance?

Ivykat

Shared buildings insurance means several flats in a block share the cost of the building insurance.

Well surely it depends?

If you're hiring Employees and erecting machinery, fair enough not to be able to operate from home.

If you're hand stitching memory blankets for Etsy, how would your landlord even know??

Thisbackwithavengence

Yes that's interesting point . Thanks