Land lord being difficult - legally??

**chuck43** · 12-03-2014, 03:57 PM

Hi there,

my partner wants to childmind from home and is level 3 qualified.

We are going through a little bother with our landlord as we rent private.

We email and asked if ok to do the childminding, and they said no due to estate agents saying no running a business from home. We did some research on this site and found was ok to do it from private rented property with landlords permission. So we fed the info back. We've been throwing as much info towards them as we can like insurance, ofsted etc.

Basically they have sent the following after us saying if we cannot do it from there then we will be forced to move out.

Dear Charlie and Liv

Thanks for the e-mail. We do understand the reasons for you wanting to run a child minding business but we are very nervous about any accidents happening at the property and with a number of children running around such a small space the risks are high. We also don’t want any damage to our property.

There are therefore various issues which need to be addressed before we can agree to this.

1. We would need to have a copy of the third party insurance you would be taking out.
2. We would need to have a copy of the Ofsted report.
3. We would need to do inspections of the property every two months.
4. We would need a break clause inserted into your lease giving us the ability to terminate your lease with two months’ notice. This would only be put into practice if it was deemed that the property was being damaged by the business or neighbours complained about noise, parking etc.
5. No overnight or weekend child minding.
6. We would need to increase the rent to £900 per calendar month.

If all the above points are acceptable and subject to us receiving the various documents referred to above and we are happy with their contents, then we would agree to the child minding business.

If however, you are not happy with this and choose to leave the property you will obviously be breaking the two year tenancy agreement that you signed in October. We have spoken to Andrews and asked what the implications are in you doing this. They have explained that if both parties are in agreement (which we would be) then it can be arranged but there are costs involved. We paid Andrews £892.80 to extend your tenancy for two years. They tell me that they would expect you to repay us on a pro rata basis. So, if you broke the tenancy after a year you would give us half of that figure or if you broke it after only six months then you would be expected to repay us about three quarters of the figure.

We do hope that we can come to an agreement and look forward to hearing from you.

**sarah707** · 12-03-2014, 07:24 PM

It's not illegal I'm afraid

They have you over a barrel and can put whatever barriers in the way they please because it's their property.

How about moving? x

**tulip0803** · 12-03-2014, 07:41 PM

Agree with Sarah. Many private landlords do not allow childminding from their properties particularly if they are through and estate agent.

One problem I can see with what they want you to do is you will not be able to get an OFSTED report until they inspect you after you have been childminding for upto 6 months. OFSTED do a pre-reg visit but do not issue inspection reports until after you start work and get inspected. Also to even go through the process you will need the permission of the landlord which they say they will not give until they have the inspection report.

I think your only option is to look at moving be it now or in a year or so's time, as they are always going to be picky with what is happening when your partner is childminding. I know that means you will have to swallow the extra cost of paying to get out of the 2 year lease.

It seems people have less problems if they rent direct from the landlord and not through an agent. If you decide to move be up front and say that she wants to childmind from the property and that way you will only view houses where they will accept it and not get your hopes up.

Focus on telling landlords about the small numbers of children 3 under 5 that would be their most of the time, and maybe be prepared to compromise on limiting your numbers to 4,5,6 children in total. I self-limit to 5 children as that is all I can fit in my car with my DD and I am able to make a good living

.

I have never had any damage to my house that needed insurance claims by minded children. They have torn some wallpaper but we replaced it

**jackie 7** · 12-03-2014, 09:41 PM

My estate agent comes round every 3 months to check for damage. Landlady 1 a year and last time said thanks for looking after the flat do well. I emphasise how I have to be extra careful in flat. Also I have painted walls when expecting a check. At least they are saying yes.

**amyp** · 12-03-2014, 10:14 PM

How annoying!!! Putting the rent up is rude!

**covgalxxx** · 12-03-2014, 10:40 PM

I have lived in my rented house for 3 years, the estate agents check my house every 5 to 6 months, and is always happy with it. I just had my pre-reg visit on Monday which was a success , have wrote a letter to the landlord and I will give it to the estate agents, i wrote what I will do insurance wise and how I and how ofsted want the house, and how many kids I will have, fingers cross they accepts itch no changes like yours, but are tenancy runs out September and want to move to bigger place anyway but hoping I'm working so we can get the bigger place that we want

**munch149** · 13-03-2014, 07:06 AM

Wow guess I'm quite lucky. Never had a problem childminding, my landlord never comes round unless there's s problem and basically just leave us to it.

Sounds like there doing all they can to stop you whilst appearing to compromise but not a lot you can do I'm afraid

**Jenna** · 13-03-2014, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by munch149

Wow guess I'm quite lucky. Never had a problem childminding, my landlord never comes round unless there's s problem and basically just leave us to it.

Sounds like there doing all they can to stop you whilst appearing to compromise but not a lot you can do I'm afraid

I'm the same our landlord is very laid back I had no problem registering and they are always great if we need anything do. We've lived in our property 4 years a d have only seen the landlord twice once when I had my ds they came around with a present and the other about 2 weeks ago we had a leak and came to check we were all ok.

**hectors house** · 13-03-2014, 08:43 AM

Doesn't sound like it's viable to either register with Ofsted as a Childminder at your current address and have to pay extra rent and risk being evicted at short notice or to have to break the terms of your contract so I think for now maybe your partner could look at working as someone else's Assistant in their home or looking to be a Nanny in the child's own home. Maybe you should have thought ahead and not signed the 2 year extension with the landlord without consulting them on the childminding idea. It may be better to put this idea on hold for 2 years and take into account that it can take up to 6 months to register anyway - so in a year's time, your wife could do the childminding course and by the time that's completed you could give notice and start looking for a more suitable property without so many clauses and conditions. Sorry I know that's probably not what you want to hear.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 13-03-2014, 08:50 AM

I can understand why they have reservations and I do think they are trying to be reasonable and accomodating but I don't necessarily agree with the price increase but can see why they are doing it.

I am a landlord and if someone came and asked me I would be putting in the same restrictions (the inspections would lapse after I could see that it was all going well to longer periods) as I would want to protect my asset.

Not sure what your rent is at the moment and how much of a rise is being offered but could you not go back and counter offer with a bond just for damage for a year of 3 months rent (I know it is a lot) and this would show you are serious?

**AliceK** · 13-03-2014, 09:41 AM

TBH I don't think the landlord is being unreasonable although I don't know how much he has put the rent up by but everything else he has said is doable quite easily by you. As for the Ofsted report, I'm sure if you have everything else in place and all the other paperwork and explain that you will not get a written report for up to 6 mths and you give him your URN that will be sufficient. A 2 mth notice clause is quite normal. I would be giving him what he has asked for and be relieved that he has actually agreed as a lot of landlords just say an outright No.

xxx