Why do landlords refuse tenants who need to childmind from home?

[Bangonthedoor]

Hi everyone!

Im writing on behalf of a very desperate friend.

My friend lives with her husband and two young children. Her husband is a self employed painter/decorator and my friend is a self employed childminder. They privately rent.

A month ago, they were given notice to leave their privately rented property as the landlord wants to sell. They are having immense difficulty finding a rental 2-3 bedroom house where the landlord is ok with her being a childminder! Every house they have viewed has been a ‘no’ because my friend will be having a handful of children in the house each day and running her business from there. They now only have a very short amount of time to find somewhere!

I am asking if there are any landlords here that will be able to provide an answer as to why (other than the potential mess and finger marks on the walls) and if there is anything at all that could be said or agreed to change a landlords mind. Are there any loop holes?

Thank you for reading!

Landlord insurance and/or BTL insurance might not permit the property being used for a business.

I assume she has insurance to be a child minder? Maybe landlords are worried about possible litigation if something within the home/garden harms a child? Along with potential for excess wear/tear/damage? Multiple cars coming and going ever day?

I used to live a abroad and worked in A&E. A child sadly died when he ran into a floor to ceiling window and it shattered into deadly shards. He was within the home of a child minder and it wasn't safety glass. From memory they changed the law as a result. I don't know, but maybe certain businesses which as run from home are a red flag?

The thing is “potential mess and finger marks” is enough of a reason for most landlords to say no. So many properties have multiple applicants that there’s just no need for them to take a chance on their property in this way.

There aren't many landlords who would be ok with their tenant running any kind of business that involves people coming to the property, and it's usually very clearly prohibited in rental contracts. She was lucky her current landlord accepted it. Are her current clients all still going to want to use her in the new place anyway? The exact location and the set up of the space were both big factors for me when I chose a childminder. Could she look for work as a nanny, at a nursery, or as an assistant to another childminder instead, potentially, so that she doesn't need to work in her own home?

Why don't pubs allow you to bring your own alcohol?

Why are you not allowed to set up a pop up shop in the high street?

It isn't that different.

She is paying for a home but running a business. All businesses have overheads. Would she be willing to pay more a month, because that is the only way I can see it working. (Unless insurance makes it impossible)

I would imagine it's because the landlord would be liable if the house he owns caused some kind of injury to a child. Also neighbours may be annoyed if there is a lot of coming and going with cars and maybe lots of noise

Mess and finger marks are the least of it.

Massively increased wear and tear, liability for things going wrong, and pissed off neighbours would worry me more.

There are more people needing to rent than there are properties available, landlords have their pick of whatever potential tenants will cause the least hassle.

Where shall we start.
insurance
liability
wear and tear
Change on use on the property status
potential business debt associated with the property

surely she couldn’t do that immediately anyway, she would need an inspection for the space to be fit for purpose.

She can hire village halls each everyday, or I am sure there are alternatives. That’s a legit business expense, unless of course none of this is declared.

As a benchmark, many home insurance / contents insurance companies won’t insure, or charge a premium, if you declare you have a cleaner. A regular long standing named individual.

Landlord here, they are probably using it as an excuse - self employed is not an attractive proposition these days.

I've not had to replace a tenant for years, but with the new renters rights act, other landlords are looking at Teachers, NHS, Civil Service, Local authority as the safest bets as they are less likely to end up out of work.

Additionally, almost certainly the property insurance would preclude a business being run from the home.

Insurance. Landlord property insurance would probably be invalidated by a business being run at the property.

There are funny attitudes about renting. Landlords are not service providers. Unless the law demands differently, they will always do the thing that makes most sense for them- cost/benefit wise.
People forget, I think, that when they rent they are in effect borrowing a massively expensive asset.

No one expects hire cars to let you run a taxi service in them, or to keep using them when you’ve stopped paying.

It could be any of the examples listed below or it could just be that they’re picky landlords/ have better offers or that two self employed people might seem like a risk to them. Hope they find something soon op

I don’t even love the idea of Tenants having their own children never mind a bunch of somebody else’s
Got to think of the wear and tear on the property

Is that true - ie you’re uninsurable if you have a cleaner??? 😳

Helpful to the point reply 👏

Yes and this is without people’s buy to let mortgages not permitting tenants running business from the address as part of the terms and conditions of the landlords mortgage not to mention if someone injured themselves at the property.

when we moved out our last rental we showed so many people round they really could have had their pick of people and it’s difficult with less rentals being available.

I wouldn’t of thought so. My home insurance includes liability insurance should a person “who provides domestic services” is injured on the premises. I’m assuming if a cleaner fell down the stairs and sued as the carpet was loose type thing. I wouldn’t be covered if said cleaner stole everything as it requires breaking and entry for a theft claim and I’m assuming they’d have a key.

You need special insurance/permissions to run a business from home if you have clients on site. Landlords aren't going to accommodate that. She needs to rent a business property or buy a home.

F

Yes, I had a number of companies ask, and some added a premium and some said no. this covers contents and accidental damage too. Never used to be a thing but certainly is now.

1. I have landlord insurance - this covers my risk if tenants do more damage than covered by their deposit or fail to pay rent and I need to take legal action, so this is really important. My landlord insurance does not allow tenants to run a business from the premises. I imagine it’s possible to get landlord insurance which does allow it, but this would cost more and also take some research, so I’m not going to do that if I have other possible tenants,
2. Extra children definitely will cause extra damage, and you can’t claim from the deposit for minor damage or wear and tear, so I’ll have extra costs and hassle when this tenant leaves and I need to improve the property.
3. The neighbours won’t like the additional noise, traffic, general coming and going and will complain to me which again is extra hassle but also means that the neighbour relationships are damaged so if I need their cooperation in future for anything I may not get it.

A tenant who wants to childmind might win me over if they:

• did the work to find landlord insurance that would allow this and offered to cover the additional cost
• offered a higher deposit than normal? That may not help as minor damage can’t be covered under the deposit anyway (and in England at least the deposit is dealt with by the deposit scheme, we can’t contractually agree that they’ll cover more damage than normal)
• could give reassurance that they wouldn’t be causing extra noise or traffic

Honestly it’s a tough sell though, if I have other tenants who don’t need any of these extra steps then obviously they’re more appealing,

They won’t pay out if an individual that you invited into your home damages your property or steals from you.
I think it would be insured. You just wouldn’t get a payout. I think it was anything to do with the cleaner.
So you have to not mention the cleaner if anything goes wrong

Thank you everyone so much for your replies. I thought it would come down to insurance! Along with a lot of other things!

Without ever being in the position myself, it wasn’t easy to find the information so I’m grateful for 1st hand info.

I’ll support my friend to explore other options rather than wait and hope for a landlord who will allow this.

I'm a landlord and I was also a childminder for 10 years.

I wouldn't allow a tenant to childmind from the rental property. The wear and tear is massive. Way more than normal family use.