UK Landlord Forum / Life

It has been brought to my attention that my tenant is currently running their own business, that is registered with companies house against the tenancy agreement, at the property they let from me. Despite it being against the tenancy agreement, my agent tells me that there is not a lot I can do about it.

I guess my question has two parts, the first is what can I do about this? I have read some horror stories online about people setting up companies before leaving the Landlord to deal with any debts they have accumulated.

Horror stories aside, what is the real damage that they can do by registering their business at the address and this is something that I should be worried about?

Thanks everybody

So it's a limited company?  I'd suggest you just ask the tenant to move the registered address of their company so correspondence goes to their accountant.  That's how most properly-run small businesses do it.

Hi Mortimer,

That is exactly what I have asked the property agent to do (and I will let you know how it goes)

Do you know know of any repercussions of the tenant running a business (aside from unpaid bills when they leave) that I need to be aware of?

Thank you
SDB

It may void any Insurance.

Not a lot you can do about it? You can evict them.

Any bills they acquire are not your problem.You should inform your insurance.What is the nature of the business? If it is not something that impinges upon others nearby, causes damage to the property or invalidates your insurance, you could consider allowing it.For instance,if they were IT contractors,setting up as limited company for tax/commercial reasons they would make no difference to you.

I will ring the insurance company to check. Thank you for that advise, I would not have thought of that.

It is a gardening/landscaping company; my ex-neighbour drew my attention to it and said that he was using a wheelbarrow through the house with bags of sand and cement (its a terraced house so you would normally have to walk round)... obviously not particularly keen on that aspect.

Ah,not ideal. Have you discussed it directly with the tenant yourself? It is possible that they are looking to move the business part to some suitable premises soon.The agent should have alerted you to this if they are managing (don't get me started!) If they intend carrying on using the house,then I would agree that eviction would be best.

Hey Heavykarma,

The agent didn't want to do anything but I was worried about damage. I had no idea about the insurance issue which convinced my agent to do something (I should say they are a large High Street Agent that I went with due to my lack of experience).

It is probably worth mentioning that they have breached the agreement before (2 dogs!) and are not great at paying on time. We have issued a breach letter to tell them to change the company address, if they don't then I will will probably evict (and feel guilty but to be honest I have had enough).

If you don't mind me asking, have you found a good agent who is honest and reliable. I get the impression they are all just out for their cut but do nothing (I ditched the last one after their property inspection involved the tenants walking round the house on skype!)

Thanks

I haven't met an agent who I would pay to manage one of my properties for about 20 years.

I take it you do it yourself? My worry is all the legislation that keeps being brought in

I do it myself.  The legislation may seem like an increasing burden, but on balance I don't mind it -- it'll hurt the cowboys and the parasites, but reasonable landlords who're fair to their tenants, pay their taxes, keep their properties safe and well maintained, and do their paperwork properly don't have anything to fear.  And the sector really is in need of a clean-up ---- there are still far too many ghastly landlords out there.  They're bringing the private rental sector into disrepute.  Every time one of them exits the market, it's a small victory.

It's easy to comply with the law and I'm pleased that the penalties for not doing that are so harsh.

I have gradually taken my small portfolio of properties back into partial self-management over the past few years.I do still use a local agent to find and check tenants,do viewings.At no extra cost he includes the necessary documents,draws up the leases and protects the deposit.I do the inventory,check-in/out, and arrange any visits or repairs.He is a one-man band who took over the business from his Dad,he operates from premises owned by the family,so his overheads are low,as are his fees.He has not increased anything so far since new legislation.I pay half of the first month's rent,a one-off fee.You may find an arrangement like that could work for you.I have had some awful agents,but so far I have no complaints with this chap.Fingers crossed though!

Thank you for the replies. The tenant has received a letter telling them that they have to change the address of the registered company if they wish to remain on the premises. He called me at 3 AM (Wisely my phone was off) and left a message complaining about the letter. He later send me a text message sent he's going to leave the premises; At this point, given he has breached the tenancy agreement more than once and paid late on numerous occasions, I have come to terms with the fact that I would just like to leave so I can hopefully find nicer tenants.

Fingers crossed, this will all go smoothly.

I just wanted to post an update in case this helps anyone else. In short the tenant threatened to sue me if I didn't let him run a business from the house. I explained that his business invalidated my insurance and therefore I could not allow it (it is worth mentioning that my insurance did say that he could register a business at the address if he had prior written consent from me, which in this case he didn't, and no clients visited or equipment was stored on site. As both were occurring and there was no prior consent my insurance was invalid!).

He subsequently sent an email threatening to sue if we didn't let him run a business and so, after taking advice, we served notice for breach of tenancy agreement (as the agreement states that he can not run a business from the property and he had breached the agreement a number of times). This led to lots of threatening text and the tenant not paying the next months rent.

Randomly he showed up at the estate agents and gave them the keys. He also put in writing that he did not want the deposit back and it could be used for rent and the deep clean (that was a condition of them having animals at the site). This does mean I am out of pocket but could have been worse.

My only worry is that I am waiting for the estate agent to do the Checkout and I have been denied access to the property until that has taken place (naturally, I am fearing the worst but can't do anything at this point).

Thank you everyone for the advice, it is much appreciated

Check the Tenancy Agreement
If the contract explicitly prohibits running a business from the property, you may have grounds to take action. You could issue a formal notice reminding the tenant of the terms and requesting they update their business address.

2. Potential Risks
The biggest concern isn't just the Companies House registration, but whether the property is actually being used for business activities. Risks include:

Increased wear and tear if customers or employees visit.
Legal & insurance issues – Your landlord insurance may not cover commercial activities.
Debt concerns – While debts belong to the business owner, letters or bailiffs could show up at the property.
3. Steps to Take
Contact Companies House to see if you can request the removal of your property as the business address.
Speak with your landlord insurance provider to check if this impacts your coverage.
If necessary, issue a Section 8 or Section 21 notice (if you're in England & Wales) if the tenant refuses to comply.

Quote from: johanwill2233 on February 13, 2025, 11:08:04 AMCheck the Tenancy Agreement...

Spammer responding in a generic manner to a years old thread.

They will be back later to edit their post to add advertising links, etc.

See https://www.stopforumspam.com/search?q=Johanwill2233

Quote from: HandyMan on February 13, 2025, 12:55:44 PMSpammer responding in a generic manner to a years old thread.

They will be back later to edit their post to add advertising links, etc.

Yes, they posted a message with links yesterday, which got deleted.

Second offence gets the banhammer.

Quote from: Simon Pambin on February 13, 2025, 02:54:23 PMSecond offence gets the banhammer.

Great. Thanks.

Quote from: Simon Pambin on February 13, 2025, 02:54:23 PMYes, they posted a message with links yesterday, which got deleted.

It's worth checking their user name, or better still their email address, here https://www.stopforumspam.com/search.

As you can see, this person is located in P***stan and has been reported as a spammer by another forum.


FWIW, I am a Mod on a couple of other forums and we find the StopForumSpam database to be a useful tool when identifying spammers.