Landlords have come below fireplace for banning potential tenants from working from home, leading to calls for brand spanking new laws to guard renters.
In what seems to be a brand new trend, adverts for shared houses specify that the potential new occupant should not work from home.
Now, the charity Generation Rent has known as upon the incoming authorities to impose rules to cease this observe which is perpetuated by Section 21 “no-fault” eviction powers.
These issues have been echoed by British renters, together with one absolutely distant disabled employee who advised The Independent that such practices put individuals in danger of homelessness when it leaves them unable to work.
A lawyer confirmed to The Independent that landlords can not cease tenants working from home, though the state of affairs is “more complicated where a tenant seeks to run a business from their rental property.”
The difficulty got here to the fore with a viral publish on Twitter (X), which claimed {that a} landlord was making an attempt to lease a double room for £1,300 a month the place the tenant can be unable to work from home – regardless of a desk being positioned within the room.
It learn: “£1300, no working from home allowed even though the room has a desk?” [sic]
The publish has been considered by greater than 4 million individuals.
It ignited an intense debate in regards to the legality of such requests and whether or not or not they had been truthful, particularly with the elevated prevalence of absolutely distant and hybrid jobs within the post-Covid world.
The Office of National Statistics discovered that the common month-to-month lease within the UK elevated by 9 per cent from 2023 to 2024.
Reacting to the publish, one Twitter (X) consumer wrote: “That’s utterly ridiculous!”
“I think it’s insurance reasons, as Landlords get asked if the property is used for business purposes,” speculated a second. “I’m sure that’s what Landlords are referring to.” [sic]
A 3rd questioned: “no wfh allowed? how is that legal? no running a business I can understand.”
An investigation by The Independent discovered that such advertisements had been far from unusual on rental web sites like Spareroom and had been notably prevalent amongst live-in landlords.
“We are looking for a female professional who is neat and tidy and not WFH,” specifies one Spareroom advert for a double bed room costing £800 a month.
Another bed room that prices £800 a month specifies “no WFH” on both a full or part-time foundation, including that the possible tenant “ideally” gained’t use the kitchen a lot.
“If you snore please don’t apply,” it provides, stressing that the perfect tenant ought to “love their own space”.
Referring to the primary advert, a spokesperson for Spareroom advised The Independent: “This isn’t an advert positioned by a standard landlord, it comes from somebody residing within the property.
“It’s commonplace for these sort of advertisements, whether or not they’re from a lodger landlord or the present flatmates, to specific some sort of choice with regards to working from home.
“There might be all types of causes for that, from the area not being appropriate, or the additional load on wifi, to the impact on payments.”
But the issues that this could create for potential tenants are big, particularly in mild of the prevalence of distant and hybrid roles post-pandemic.
One absolutely distant employee, who’s presently in search of a brand new rental property, advised The Independent: “After the 2008 market crash and the proliferation of zero-hours contracts I moved my work mannequin to freelancing. Much of this includes working from home for preparation and admin.
“So when the pandemic hit I used to be lucky in having few changes to my work sample, and with a progressive incapacity, this has allowed me to proceed working full time.
“I’m presently in search of a brand new rental property and any stipulation that I couldn’t work from home would both exclude me from housing or exclude me from the workforce. This just isn’t a selection anybody should face, and it definitely ought to not be being imposed by non-public landlords.”
Abtin Yeganeh, a Senior Associate within the Dispute Resolution division at Lawrence Stephens, defined that renters do have one safety on this space.
“Whilst landlords can seek to exclude a tenant’s right to work from home, The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (subject to several exclusions) provides that landlords cannot unreasonably refuse a tenant’s request to do so,” he stated.
However, the continued existence of Section 21 evictions implies that tenants may nonetheless be compelled to maneuver on in the event that they attempt to work from home, making this an advanced difficulty for all concerned.
Ben Twomey, the Chief Executive of Generation Rent, echoed these issues, telling The Independent: “If you’re paying lease for a home, it must be none of your landlord’s enterprise what you do in it.
“Unfortunately, in observe, there may be little stopping landlords from imposing draconian situations on their tenants, as a result of they’ll threaten a Section 21 eviction in case you don’t comply.
“It doesn’t matter if an unreasonable requirement is lawful – having the ability to evict while not having a purpose trumps all the things.
“When the subsequent authorities reforms tenancies, as all main events have promised, it should abolish Section 21 and clarify that unfair phrases like banning working from home aren’t authorized. That method, the egocentric preferences of a landlord won’t imply homelessness for a tenant. ”
