Renters and Condo or Planned Development Homeowners
You will need to review your lease/CC&Rs and talk to your landlord/condo association, respectively. There is a very good chance your lease or CC&Rs out-and-out forbids business activity. However, if you have a decent relationship with your landlord, approach him or her and ask for a change to that stipulation. Condominium owners might be in a more difficult bind – although you own your own condominium, changing CC&Rs usually requires great effort, as you often must convince the majority of owners in your complex to go along with the change.
How to go about getting such a change should be covered in CC&Rs or other paperwork relating to your condominium owners’ association. Whether you need to renegotiate your lease or get your co-owners’ permission, try to couch your discussion in terms that avoid the phrase “running a business” out of your home. This has the connotation that you want to start a nightclub, trucking company, or department store from your humble abode – and you definitely do not want your landlord or neighbors to think in those terms! When you approach your landlord, start off with a comment such as, “I don’t know if you remember, but I do quite a bit of writing.” Continue by saying that you would like to do this kind of work for yourself instead of others. You have now placed the activity into the category of something that is already happening, with no adverse consequences.
Your landlord might worry about your ability to pay the rent, and might ask for additional money in your deposit or verification of money in the bank. Before you talk to your landlord, be sure that you have several reassuring things to tell her, such as, “I’ve been doing this for other companies for 15 years, and I already have 10 clients interested in my services,” or, “As you know, my partner’s salary alone is sufficient to pay our rent.” If you know of people in your complex who work from home for their employer, who are students, or who are retired and home during the day, be sure to compare yourself to these people as favorably as you can.
After all, if your next door neighbor is doing work from his home for ABC Corporation, why should your landlord refuse to grant you a modification on your lease so that you can do similar work for yourself? Condominium and planned development homeowners can try a similar approach, but again, changing the rules governing your condo might be difficult. Although renters usually have one person – a landlord or apartment manager – to convince, you might have to persuade the entire complex. What do you do if your landlord/condo association won’t budge? If you really want to start your business, move. Every region in the United States has plenty of apartment and condominium complexes that will not mind if you are running a home business. Look especially in up-and-coming areas of your city or areas that are struggling a bit.
Tags: home based business, home business