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!

The covenants on our Deeds specifically state that no business is to be run on the premises, plus no commercial vehicles etc. A lot of houses built in the last 25/30 years have these sort of covenants.

Well if a child gets hurt due to something with the house the landlord might be liable.. I’d worry about that

Again. It's not a business.

If course it is. People are paying for a service run from the landlords premises. A service that means extra wear and tear over normal family life. You can call it what you like but its definitely a business

Do grown adults actually use words like 'snitching'? You mean neighbours with perfectly valid concerns about noise and parking issues. They are entitled to live in peace.

I support the early years sector but can see why neighbours might not like it, especially if a childminder doesn’t have off-street parking. For example, if a registered childminder can take three children under five, assuming that they have their own child at home, that would still be an extra two cars pulling up to park and drop off for 5-10 minutes in the mornings and collect in the early evening, exactly when everyone else is wanting to leave for work or arrive home and park again. Plus perhaps one or two after-school children, also needing to be collected at 6pm. You would rapidly become unpopular in a busy street…