Running A Business From A Rented Home: The Rules
Two different questions get tangled together here, and separating them makes this much simpler.
Registering a company at your rented address is one thing. Actually running a business from the property is another. The first is usually fine with a conversation. The second usually needs written permission.
The short version
- Check your tenancy agreement first. Most contain a residential-use-only clause.
- Ask in writing and get the answer in writing. Permission is the whole thing.
- Running a small business from home won't give you a business tenancy, which is the fear landlords usually have.
- Working for an employer from your kitchen table isn't running a business.
Working from home is not the same thing
Worth clearing up first, because it worries people unnecessarily.
If you're employed and work remotely, sitting at a laptop in your own home, that isn't running a business from the property. No landlord permission is needed, and a residential-use clause isn't breached by answering emails.
The rest of this is about self-employment and businesses, where you're trading from the address.
Start with the tenancy agreement
Almost every residential agreement says the property is let for use as a private dwelling only, and many go further with an explicit prohibition on trade or business.
Running a business in breach of that is a breach of tenancy, which is a ground for possession. Not the end of the world in most cases, and not something to do accidentally either.
So read the clause. If it prohibits business use, ask. If it's silent, ask anyway, because you want the answer recorded.
The law that removed the landlord's main objection
This is the useful bit, and hardly anyone knows it.
Landlords worry that business use converts a residential tenancy into a business tenancy under Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, which carries security of tenure and makes the property much harder to get back.
Section 35 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 dealt with this by creating the "home business tenancy". Where a tenancy is of a home let as a separate dwelling to an individual for occupation as a home, and the only business carried on is a home business, meaning "a business of a kind which might reasonably be carried on at home", Part 2 of the 1954 Act does not apply. That holds even where the landlord consented to or acquiesced in a breach of a business-use prohibition.
What this means practically: a landlord who says no because "it would give you a business tenancy" is worrying about something the law fixed in 2015. Telling them that, politely, changes a lot of conversations.
The exception written into the Act is the supply of alcohol for consumption on licensed premises forming part of the dwelling.
Registering a company at the address
Separate question, and lighter.
Companies House requires a registered office address in the relevant part of the UK, and it goes on the public register. Two things follow:
- It becomes public. Your home address is searchable by anyone. If that concerns you, use a registered office service, which costs modestly per year and solves it entirely.
- Some agreements prohibit it, and some leaseholds prohibit it above the landlord, so ask.
Registering a company at an address is not the same as trading from it, and it's worth putting it that way when you ask.
How to ask
Email, and be specific. Vagueness is what gets refused.
Cover:
- What the business actually is, in a sentence.
- Whether anyone will visit. This is the landlord's real concern. "No clients or customers at the property" removes most of the objection.
- Deliveries. Whether volumes change, and whether anything is stored.
- Noise, smells, equipment, and whether neighbours would notice anything at all.
- Alterations. Say plainly if there are none.
- Insurance. Offer to arrange appropriate cover, which reassures without costing them anything.
- The 1954 Act point, if they raise it.
Most home businesses are consultancy, design, coaching, writing, online selling or similar, none of which a landlord would notice. Say so.
What might genuinely be refused
Some refusals are reasonable, and it helps to know which.
- Regular customer visits, which change the use of the property and can breach a lease or planning conditions
- Stock stored in volume, particularly anything flammable
- Anything with noise, fumes or heavy equipment
- Food production for sale, which brings registration and hygiene requirements
- Anything needing alterations or a change of use
- Anything the head lease prohibits, where the landlord genuinely can't consent
- Subletting dressed up as a business, such as short-term holiday letting
If the head lease is the obstacle, ask to see the clause. That's a real constraint rather than an excuse.
The practical consequences
Insurance. Standard contents insurance usually excludes business equipment and stock, and won't cover public liability if someone visits. Tell your insurer, and check whether the landlord's own policy has anything to say about business use. Renters' insurance.
Business rates. If part of the property is used exclusively for business, the Valuation Office can assess that part for business rates. Working at a desk in a room you also use as a bedroom or living room normally won't trigger it. A converted garage used only for the business might.
Council tax and utilities. Usually unaffected for a modest home business, but heavier usage may push you off a domestic tariff.
Planning. Rarely an issue where the use of the home doesn't materially change. Regular visitors, signage, or converting a room can change that, and it's the council's planning team who decide.
Tax. You can claim a proportion of household costs against self-employed income. HMRC has simplified flat rates for working from home, which are much easier than apportioning bills.
If they say no
- Ask for the reason in writing. Some are real, some evaporate when named.
- Address the specific concern. Offer no visitors, no storage, no alterations.
- Explain the home business tenancy position if security of tenure is what's worrying them.
- Offer a review. Six months, then a look at whether anything has actually changed.
- Use a registered office service if the objection is only about the address appearing publicly.
Don't just do it anyway. A breach of tenancy is a discretionary ground for possession, and it's an unnecessary risk when asking usually works.
One thing in your favour: Section 21 no-fault eviction was abolished on 1 May 2026, so asking the question can't itself produce a two-month notice. What the Act changed.
The honest summary
Check the agreement, ask in writing, and be specific about visitors, storage and noise, because those are the actual concerns.
Remote employment isn't a business. Registering a company isn't trading. And a genuine home business won't create a business tenancy, which is the thing landlords most often refuse over.
And review your landlord when the tenancy ends. Whether someone dealt with a reasonable request reasonably is exactly what the next self-employed tenant would like to know.
This guide covers England and reflects the position at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. General information rather than legal, tax or insurance advice; check your own tenancy agreement and take advice on your circumstances. Sources: Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, section 35, Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, section 43ZA, GOV.UK, business rates and working at home.