Landlord Wants Higher Rent After Learning I Work From Home – Is This Even Legal?
When I moved into my flat 11 months ago, I was working full time in a local hair salon. In my spare hours I wrote a small blog, just for fun.
The blog unexpectedly took off and within a year it is now making enough money for me to leave the salon and focus on it full time. I can work from anywhere, sometimes from the flat, sometimes from cafés, parks, or even the beach. No clients ever visit the property.
My landlord recently found out about my blog’s success and sent me a string of text messages demanding either higher rent or a percentage of my earnings. I’ve always been a reliable tenant, paid my rent on time, looked after the flat, and never had a single complaint from neighbours.
Here’s how the conversation went:
Landlord: Hi. Heard you quit the salon. The blog’s your job now?
Me: Yeah, it’s been going well
Me: Why?
Landlord: Means you’re running a business from my flat. Rent needs to go up
Me: I’m not running a business from here. I just live here
Me: I write anywhere, cafés, beach, park, wherever I feel like
Me: No clients come here
Landlord: Yes but it still counts. It’s business use. Extra wear and tear
Me: What do you mean, I still just live here
Me: I’ve always paid rent on time. Never had complaints from neighbours.
Me: I look after this place better than most people would
Landlord: Yes true, but you are at home a lot more now. You work from home, you should pay more or give me a cut of your profits
Me: Are you serious or deluded?!!!
Me: Living here doesn’t make me more money
Landlord: Ok I’ll find someone who goes to work every day.
Me: So you’re kicking me out for doing well?
Landlord: I’m saying agree new terms or I’ll serve notice.
I honestly feel like I’m being punished for doing well. I’ve paid my rent on time every single month. I’ve looked after this place better than most owners look after their own homes. Never a single complaint.
And now, because my blog’s taken off, my landlord thinks I should hand over more money, or even a cut of my profits. For what? Just for living here?
What about all my friends who’ve been working from home since Covid? Still on the same salaries, doing the same jobs, barely go into the office. Their landlords aren’t chasing them for more rent.
Is it just because I’m visible online that I’m an easy target?
Is this even legal? Does working from home magically turn your flat into “business use”? And if it does, does that mean every remote worker in the country should be paying more?
Honestly, I’d love to hear what other tenants think, and landlords too. Is this fair game or just greedy?
Comments
Have Your Say
Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
Not a member yet? Join In Seconds
Login with
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1137
9:51 AM, 17th August 2025, About 8 months ago
Its not much consolation now, but the landlord will find it much harder to raise the rent in this way under the forthcoming Renters Rights Act.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 1630 - Articles: 3
9:55 AM, 17th August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Saul Smart at 17/08/2025 – 00:35
I enjoy the craic!
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12193 - Articles: 1395
10:22 AM, 17th August 2025, About 8 months ago
I honestly can’t get my head around this.
If landlords can bump rent just because someone works from home, then surely half the country should be paying more by now? Most of my friends still haven’t gone back to the office since Covid.
So why is this tenant being singled out? Is it just greed, or is there actually a legal argument here?
Keen to hear from landlords as well as tenants, would you ever do this, or do you think it’s completely out of order?
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12193 - Articles: 1395
10:25 AM, 17th August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Saul Smart at 17/08/2025 – 00:35
There’s lots to come in that vein.
I’ve been busy scouring the internet for such stories and will begin publishing a huge series of articles next week, with evidence of where the articles first appeared and links to them.
If you think this one is unbelievable, wait until you read some of mind!
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 31
3:59 AM, 18th August 2025, About 8 months ago
Here’s my understanding as a landlord.
The landlord cannot demand a share of profits from your business, that is illegal. There are a small number of things a landlord can request money for and that’s not one. Check the shelter web page for details.
The issue of running a business from home may be more complicated. This is not the same as working from home.
My tenancies prohibits running a business from my properties as do probably most tenancy templates. The reason is that there is a risk of the tenancy accidentally becoming a commercial lease. This is both bad for you and for the landlord. A commercial lease has an automatic right of continuation, so a commercial landlord can’t evict a tenant who sticks to their agreement and pays rent. But a commercial tenant gets none of the protections of a residential tenancy. So, one late rent payment and youdon’t have any of the protections from eviction you normally would.
Now I may have gotten the details wrong here about commercial as I’m not a commercial landlord. But the point is that neither you nor the landlord want a commercial tenancy, neither does the landlord’s insurance or mortgage companies. It’s not what anyone signed up for.
So, what are the odds of this happening? The small business and enterprise act 2015 is the legislation that is relevant I think. Maybe the risk is low and I suspect that’s the case here. If I were the landlord, I wouldn’t worry, at least for now. But, if you started employing other people to work on your blog, especially if they started coming to your home office, then I would be concerned. To give an example, I had a potential tenant who wanted to run a nursery from a rented property and I refused their application based on that. I suspected this use was much more likely to cause legal problems, plus obvious increases in the rosy of damage.
That’s the background and the reason why landlords are nervous about this stuff.
But regardless of that act and the inflammatory language of your landlord, you need to check your tenancy. If it says you can’t run a business from your home then you are in breach and that could *potentially* be grounds for eviction. You are running a business from your home and that is fundamentally and legally different to working from home. Or your landlord could issue a no fault eviction notice anyway.
Your best bet is probably just to say you are no longer running the business from that address and refused to give more details. Then it’s for him to prove it. But he sounds like someone I wouldn’t want as a landlord. Maybe think about moving anyway.
Member Since August 2017 - Comments: 149
9:42 AM, 18th August 2025, About 8 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Phil rosenberg at 18/08/2025 – 03:59
This is a very good exposition of the legal situation but this landlord is simply asking for more money. That suggests that he doesn’t think the tenancy contract has been breached.
Depending on the nature of the business being run from home, there is also the risk of the need for a change in planning permission. Someone mentioned a nursery above – that would most likely require a change in planning status although running a blog from your home shouldn’t.
Member Since July 2023 - Comments: 15
8:03 AM, 3rd September 2025, About 7 months ago
This is a really interesting (and unfortunately stressful) situation, and I’ll break it down from a UK tenancy law perspective:
⸻
1. Can the landlord demand higher rent mid-tenancy?
• No. Once you’ve signed a tenancy agreement (usually an Assured Shorthold Tenancy in England/Wales), the rent is fixed for the duration of that tenancy.
• The landlord cannot just unilaterally raise rent or demand a “cut of profits.” They can only:
• Propose a rent increase at renewal, or
• Use a rent review clause (if one exists in your contract).
• If there’s no clause, they’d need your agreement. Otherwise, they’d have to wait until the tenancy ends and then serve proper notice.
⸻
2. Is your blog “running a business from the property”?
• The law distinguishes between living at home while earning remotely and using a property as commercial premises.
• Writing a blog (with no visitors, no signage, no storage/distribution) is effectively just working from home. That does not change the residential use of the property.
• HMRC and local councils generally don’t consider this kind of activity as requiring business rates or a “change of use.”
• The main concern is usually if you:
• Have regular client visits
• Employ staff on site
• Physically trade or distribute goods from the property
None of that applies here.
⸻
3. What about the landlord’s “wear and tear” argument?
• Tenants are entitled to live in the property however they wish within normal residential use.
• Being home more often (whether retired, unemployed, sick, or working remotely) doesn’t mean you owe extra rent.
• Landlords cannot charge more just because you’re indoors during the day.
⸻
4. Could the landlord evict you?
• If you’re on a fixed term, they’d have to wait until the fixed period ends.
• They could serve a Section 21 notice (no fault eviction) when legally allowed, but that would be about ending the tenancy, not because they’re entitled to a share of your income.
• Threatening you for money with eviction as leverage is not lawful and could even stray into harassment territory if it continues.
⸻
5. Comparison to remote workers
You’re spot on — if your landlord’s reasoning held, then:
• Every remote worker since Covid
• Every student studying at home
• Every retiree who spends more time indoors
…would all be on the hook for higher rent. Clearly that’s not the law.
⸻
Bottom line:
Your landlord has no legal right to demand extra rent or a share of your blog income because you write from home. You are not “running a business” in the way tenancy law defines it. At most, he can attempt to raise the rent when your tenancy renews, but you can dispute that or move elsewhere. If he keeps harassing you, keep the messages — you may have grounds to report him.
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1137
12:29 PM, 3rd September 2025, About 7 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Conscientious Landlord at 03/09/2025 – 08:03
Many tenants are on periodic tenancies where there has been no previous use of a s13 notice. In these circumstances the landlord CAN legally demand an increase. It can be challenged at the FTT, but unless its way above market rent, they don’t usually uphold the challenge. My understanding is that theyre not empowered to consider the reason for the increase.