Now landlords can’t bar you from starting a firm
BUSINESS leaders have welcomed plans announced by Business Minister Matthew Hancock on Friday to make it easier for people to run an enterprise from a rented home.
There are 2.9 million home-based businesses in the UK, which put £300billion into the economy and about 70 per cent of new firms start in the home. The law will change so that landlords can be assured that agreeing to this will not undermine their residential tenancy agreement. A new ‘model tenancy agreement’ will be made available ‘shortly’.
It was announced that updated planning guidance ‘makes it clear that planning permission should not normally be needed to run a business from your home’. And new business rates guidance says that in most circumstances, home-based firms will not attract business rates.
John Allan, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘One in five FSB members say tenancy clauses are a barrier to running a business from home, so it’s good to see the Government acting on this.’
Former plasterer Lisa Davies launched her chocolate-making business, UK-Deli-Cious, from home and is this week moving it to its own shop in Nottingham, after selling at markets, trade fairs and a furniture shop concession.
She said: ‘A lot of women with young children are not in a position to go into full-time work and their hobbies are turning into businesses.
‘Because of Facebook and Twitter, your audience is not just trade fairs any more. If I was a landlord I would be happy [if my tenant was running a business]. If it is bringing in the rent, then that is no problem at all.’
She added: ‘I was teaching plastering and I bought moulds for the students to make ornaments. I took the moulds home and made chocolates and I became hooked. Now I have been working full-time on the business for two years.
‘Working from home means you can’t switch off but I think that makes a business more successful.’
She said it had been ‘a slog’, adding: ‘I think there could be more finance help from the Government.’ Last week research from the Institute of Public Policy Research revealed that the number of selfemployed workers now stands at 4.5 million, or 15 per cent of the British workforce.
The fact that growth in selfemployment in the UK over the last year was the highest of all Western European countries prompted fears over the economic recovery. Selfemployment has accounted for about two-fifths of new jobs since 2010.
But Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, a support network for the self-employed, said: ‘One in ten domestic properties are now home to at least one business. These are not people starting businesses out of necessity through lack of jobs, they are part of a movement that is responding to the new opportunities technology brings and actively taking control of their own destiny by starting out from home.’
Enterprise Nation says one advantage of registering as self-employed is you will automatically hear about Government initiatives that might help your business to grow, such as start-up loans.