can you run a home business from a rental home?

Discussion in 'Starting & Running a Business' started by rachel thi, 28th Feb, 2016.

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  1. rachel thi

    rachel thi New Member

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    Hi,

    I have a spare room in my house and wanted to start a small beauty business from home. A bit of waxing and eyelash extensions.

    Is this illegal to do so?

    Thanks
     
    rachel thi, 28th Feb, 2016
    #1
  2. Barny

    Barny Well-Known Member

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    Lol, I just posted a Similar thread
     
    Barny, 28th Feb, 2016
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  3. seachange

    seachange Well-Known Member

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    Depends on your location, lease and zoning I guess. Does help with tax claims on a percentage of your rent of course, which you can't really do on a bought property .
    My last property was dual zoned, so I could have legally done so, but was still too difficult to claim costs against mortgage.
    I think legally you have to be dual zoned, but depending on location and how neighbours would feel you might be able to get away with it?
     
    seachange, 28th Feb, 2016
    #3
  4. JacM

    JacM VIC Buyer's Agent - Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat Business Member

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    So many folks seem to run businesses from home doing people's nails... it'd be easy to go get your nails done and ask them how they are set up. You wouldn't be going into competition with them as you're planning to do waxing and eyelash extensions, so they'd probably happily share knowledge with you.
     
    JacM, 28th Feb, 2016
    #4
  5. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    I think I'd prefer to see Rachel to get my waxing done :D

    Don't go asking council to much to begin with it could come back to bite you. Especially if your just running it off the books ;) your neighbours are likely to be the biggest threat (dobbing to council) so make sure you're friends with them and give them a free wax from time to time to keep them quiet ;)

    I believe home run hair dressers need to (should) have mods done to the plumbing due to the poisons they put in people's hair and wash down the drain. I'd think nails wouldn't require that though but I'm not sure what's used
     
    bob shovel, 28th Feb, 2016
    #5
  6. willair

    willair Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Maybe just ring up your insurance company first and ask the question,you would not want anyone going belly-up on a wet floor and you end up with several legal people sending you
    letters on what they intend to do,then ring up the local council and ask the question and from the parking,plumbing,and miscomputing the probabilities..
     
    willair, 28th Feb, 2016
    #6
  7. JacM

    JacM VIC Buyer's Agent - Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat Business Member

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    Just realised you are talking about a rental home. This will probably breach your lease. Speak to the Property Manager first. If you just surge ahead and do it, expect a swift and stern response as you'd be invalidating the landlord's insurance (this was discussed recently in a separate thread) and also breaching the lease terms.
     
    JacM, 28th Feb, 2016
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  8. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I (and my parents) have had several businesses run from IPs. For me, it was a home based consultancy of some sort, with no visitors to the house. That was fine with our insurer, who said if the business entailed clients coming to the house, the tenant needed to have a public liability insurance in place to cover the clients. Our own public liability cover for the house would not cover clients of the business, hence the need for the business to have its own cover.

    A recent case was a counsellor who we pushed to give us a copy of her liability insurance as she had clients coming to the house. Her husband also ran his business from the IP but had no clients. I always wondered how I could tell if she ever let her policy lapse or cancelled it. We would have no idea as we were not party to the policy.

    My parents had two cases. One was a lady who ran an art class for children from the house. This lady was not prepared to take out a policy, so moved on and rented elsewhere and I guess just kept quiet about her classes. That new landlord clearly would have been taking a big risk without having a clue.

    Another tenant asked my parents if he could refill gas bottles under a timber house. The insurer said a most definite "NO" and he also moved out. Whether he moved to a house and kept quiet about his business or rented elsewhere and rented a shed somewhere (I doubt it), then his new landlord also would have been taking a risk without having a clue.

    This is a big problem that I see and I do wonder what would happen if (for example) the gas chap had a gas bottle blow up and burn the house down (or worse, someone be killed). I wonder whether the insurer for the house would pay up if the landlord/owner had no knowledge of what was going on? Somehow I doubt it, but it is a big risk IMO, and a risk that a landlord really cannot control if the business is started after all checks are done, or is a side business that isn't mentioned by the tenant.
     
    wylie, 28th Feb, 2016
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  9. seachange

    seachange Well-Known Member

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    That's right about public liability . $20 million is pretty standard for a retail business these days. Definitely an important thing to have. The insurers may have something to say about the lease type. It is a big risk doing it without some protection though. You prob also need decent air filters for acetone etc.
    ( as an aside, The gas bottle issue comes up a lot in my line of work, but really, most rentals have gas bottles for bbqs etc, so as long as you have flash back arrestor and maintain lines it shouldn't exclude you from a property )
     
    seachange, 28th Feb, 2016
    #9
  10. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    One gas bottle for a barbecue is very different to filling people's gas bottles as a business, under the house, and charging for it though...
     
    wylie, 28th Feb, 2016
    #10
    Terry_w and Marg4000 like this.
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