Renting gets even harder, as landlords seek to ban WFH

Landlords have come under fire for banning prospective tenants from working from home, resulting in calls for new legislation to protect renters.

- EMMA GUINNESS

In what appears to be a new trend, adverts for shared homes have been appearing, specifying that the potential new occupant must not work from home.

Now, the charity Generation Rent has called upon the new government to impose regulations to stop the practice, which is arguably given force by Section 21 “no-fault” eviction powers. Concerns have been echoed by British renters, including one fully remote disabled worker who told The Independent that such practices put people at risk of homelessness when it leaves them unable to work.

A lawyer confirmed to The Independent that landlords cannot stop tenants working from home, although the situation is “more complicated where a tenant seeks to run a business from their rental property”. A recent post on Twitter/X, which went viral, claimed that a landlord was attempting to rent a double room for £1,300 a month where the tenant would be unable to work from home – despite a desk being placed in the room. It read: “£1300, no working from home allowed even though the room has a desk?”

The post has been viewed by more than 4 million people. It ignited an intense debate about the legality of such requests and whether or not they were fair, especially with the increased prevalence of fully remote and hybrid jobs in the post-Covid world. The Office of National Statistics found that the average monthly rent in the UK increased by 9 per cent from 2023 to 2024.