Leaseholders who work from home warned they could face legal action

theguardian.com:

Some people who work from home or run a business from their flat or house could face legal action for violating the terms of their property’s lease, according to a legal academic.

During the pandemic the number of people working from home ballooned, and many have continued to operate from their flats and houses after the Covid restrictions were lifted.

Some people keen to use their property for Airbnb rentals have already been warned about the risk of legal action if the lease, which dictates what their home is used for, prevents it.

Now some of those who work for their employer or operate a business from their home – which could include people running a nail bar, music teachers and even builders storing construction supplies – could face legal challenges.

Leases frequently contain restrictive clauses – for example, they may say the property can only be used as a residence for a single family, or it cannot be used to run a business.

Michael Poulsom, a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Law School, says it is likely to be only a matter of time before litigation by landlords takes place to halt or restrict the practice.

“In England and Wales, covenants which prohibit the use of residential property ‘for the purposes of a trade or business’, ‘otherwise than as a single private dwelling house’ are very common in both freehold and leasehold titles, and whether working at home breaches those covenants remains in large part unresolved,” he says.

Poulsom estimates that half of the properties in England and Wales could have these restrictive covenants which prevent business use.

“This is of particular concern for leasehold owners, against whom the landlord’s remedy of forfeiting the lease is a possibility.”

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