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I'll be looking into renting a house in a few months in a small town. Ideally, I'd like a place with a small workshop, but that may not be available, since there are only about a 10 houses available. Half of a 2 car garage would work too. There wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, like large tools or welding.
Does anyone have any experience with how landlords would feel about this?
If you rent my house with a garage I certainly don't care whether you park your car or build cabinets in it as long as you're complying with local ordinances.
so long as you are not doing anything dangerous (building bombs), or creating toxic fumes or anything else that could contaminate the property... then you should be okay to do what you want.
Like, if you want to put your bed in the living room, and your tv in the master bedroom... thats up to you.
Most landlords will have standard contract language about "uses contrary to the approved residential zoning shall be a violation of the lease and are prohibited" but if this just a hobby you are probably fine. Of course if the hobby generates excessive noise / dust / fumes that is gonna be something the landlord might take issue with. If you start blowing out electrical circuits that would similarly be a no-no....
Most landlords will have standard contract language about "uses contrary to the approved residential zoning shall be a violation of the lease and are prohibited" but if this just a hobby you are probably fine. Of course if the hobby generates excessive noise / dust / fumes that is gonna be something the landlord might take issue with. If you start blowing out electrical circuits that would similarly be a no-no....
it's something i've done in a 1 car garage and half of a 2 car garage before. But those weren't rental houses. I never had complaints from neighbors or electrical issues. All electrical tools are standard 110V.
I guess if I had everything set up and some things in a closed cabinet, nothing would be out of the ordinary compared to any other garage, since it's pretty common for people to keep tools and work benches in garages.
it's something i've done in a 1 car garage and half of a 2 car garage before. But those weren't rental houses. I never had complaints from neighbors or electrical issues. All electrical tools are standard 110V.
I guess if I had everything set up and some things in a closed cabinet, nothing would be out of the ordinary compared to any other garage, since it's pretty common for people to keep tools and work benches in garages.
If this "risky" in any way (like fire / explosion hazard or even just sharp stuff...) you should of course have renter's insurance to cover your belongings, but otherwise you don't have to overthink this. If you done this kind of thing in your own garage and lived to tell about it odds are it won't trigger some disaster just becuase this is a rental. But don't tempt "Murphy's Law" -- check with your insurer to make sure it does have goverage for garage too...
If this "risky" in any way (like fire / explosion hazard or even just sharp stuff...) you should of course have renter's insurance to cover your belongings, but otherwise you don't have to overthink this. If you done this kind of thing in your own garage and lived to tell about it odds are it won't trigger some disaster just becuase this is a rental. But don't tempt "Murphy's Law" -- check with your insurer to make sure it does have goverage for garage too...
Getting insurance is a good idea. I thought I should get some, but never have had renters insurance. Would that cover any damages that could be done to the house or is that just for the contents? It's unlikely that such a thing would happen, but I wouldn't want to be personally liable for it and not have it covered.
Will you be working with the garage door open? There's a guy who does carpentry in his garage in a community where I have a rental and I think it drags down the look of the community to see everyone's nice, neat houses and there he is at his table saw working with the garage door open and all kinds of cabinets in the driveway.
Will you be working with the garage door open? There's a guy who does carpentry in his garage in a community where I have a rental and I think it drags down the look of the community to see everyone's nice, neat houses and there he is at his table saw working with the garage door open and all kinds of cabinets in the driveway.
Wow. Really?
Just.. wow. I guess it really Does take all kinds of people to make this world...
For the OP, just ask any potential LL. Far better to know ahead of time than assume something and find out you were wrong in your assumptions later. And definatly worth knowing before getting into a lease. So long as it's not illegal, I can't imagine many LL's being too concerned, but Squirl just proved that there are some oddly biased opinions out there.
My insurance company says they don't have any problem with running a small clean business from the rental houses as long as no customers ever come to the property for any reason what-so-ever. No customers. None. Not ever.
Whether I would allow it or not depends upon what the shop was used for and whether or not it made noise or mess or presented a fire hazard.
I tuned down the cabinet maker. Saws going all the time would bring complaints from the neighbors. I allowed the woman who had a custom knitting and sewing business. I figure the neighbors can't complain about the noise from a sewing machine or the click of knitting needles, if they can even hear it.
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