Tenant with potential business use of home

[Mavis Fernandes]

I am considering a tenant who also teaches music from home (her current place). Has anybody rented before to tenants who run a home based business and have clients come to the property? i am a bit wary due to the potential liability but want to make sure i am not over-reacting. thanks

[Bill Gulley]

Oh my gosh, liability concerns again, you're lucky your tenant isn't having bridge club every week with little old ladies with walkers going up and down the steps. Get insurance, if you can't take the day to day risks of life being a property owner, it's time to sell.

Music teachers, probably a very good tenant, if they are actually school teachers or professionals. Music lessons are going to be after school, probably 4 to 6 and on Saturdays during the day, mid morning to early afternoon. If the home is a  SFD house, doubt drums would be an issue, an apartment is another concern. Who are the neighbors and when are they around. The teacher probably has common sense.

There is no real traffic issue here either, so long as they aren't having the choir or entire bans show up, it's one student at a time.

I grew up with my dad teaching brass players mainly, he was a music teacher and I was around the students, they were in the den and I was in my room and I couldn't hear that much going on, practice is not blasting a horn or beating a base drum as hard as you can.

I wouldn't be concerned at all, if there was a noise complaint I'd ask them to hold it down, I'd also be telling the neighbor they have every right to play an instrument in their home. Generally, during daytime hours, a property owner/tenant may have "reasonable" noise for limited periods. What if the tenant was a woodworker using a table saw?

What owners lease to a tenant is the enjoyment of possession, same rights as the owner has,  if you have the right to play the piano in your home, so does your tenant!

Your tenant also has the right to the fruits of the land, a right to earn a living so long as that activity conforms to zoning and commercial requirements, which are very limited requirements for someone tutoring a student. To deny a tenant such rights really needs to be based on reasonable expectations of excessive liability, public traffic or violations of ordinances.

Just saying, be reasonable and don't get hung up so much on liability issues, you will not be negligent leasing to a music teacher! :))