House deeds!!

[oneson070711]

My house deeds say I Connot run a business from my home.
Does this mean I can't become a childminder?

yes I'd think so
doing admin work at home is usually excepted

your conveyancing solicitor should have pointed it out to you when you bought the house

I would rather think that this clause is common though so not sure how other cms get around it. Would talk to your solicitor or Local Authority perhaps.

My house deeds say this. My solicitor advised me to keep my neighbours onside (as it would be neighbours who would complain and mean you would have to stop working from your home) and keep quiet about it. I have kept quiet and have been living and working as a childminder in this house for three years. I also have neighbours who run buisness' from their houses and I imagine as we live on an estate we have all got the same clause written in the deeds.

We had a neighbour in a new-build estate who was a childminder. The parents kept blocking neighbours' drives when they collected their children, so eventually they complained and she was stopped from doing it.

Tbh many house deeds will say this. As pp have said, the only way it would be enforced is probably irritated neighbours. You could try to mitigate this - not having too many kids, can you have multiple parking spaces on your private drive, that kind of thing.

Writing this post whilst working from home, running my business, whilst under a convenant

Hi OP, my house deeds also say this.
When I bought my house, I knew I was going to become a childminder at some point so I asked my solicitor and my mortgage adviser if this clause would prevent me from doing so. They both said that childminding was exempt.

I'm not allowed to run a pub or a brewery. Surely there must be exceptions, for example if someone was a plumber who had his home as his business address? I suppose you will need to have a chat with your solicitor about it and clarify.

Elbekind I'm not sure how your solicitor or your mortgage advisor would be in a position to confirm that childminding is exempt as a general principle.

OP you should call your local council who will be able to tell you the point at which they would classify it as a change of use from residential to business. Often it will be dependent on the number of mindees. That's not the same point as the enforcement of the covenant but its a crucial question as far as the Council is concerned.