One of my tenants is running some kind of business from the apartment, where people are being buzzed up every workday. Neighbors are complaining. What can I do?
The pandemic taught us all that working remotely from home is here to stay. No longer should we expect our residents to leave each morning at 7:00 AM and return ten or eleven hours later. Even before the introduction of the Covid-era work-from-home mindset, it was increasingly commonplace for folks to maintain home offices. Undoubtedly, technology now affords all of us the luxury of holding meetings virtually and accomplishing tasks from our bedrooms as opposed to being beholden to a daily downtown office presence.
Yet there are limits as to what extent of commercial activities are permissible at a residence. While a home office is perfectly fine, the bounds of acceptable behavior are tested when the resident moves from holding virtual meetings to hosting physical encounters with clients and customers. When that conduct begins, a problem is born.
For starters, local zoning laws likely prohibit this type of commercial activity in residential areas. Secondly, moving from word processing and on-line sessions to hosting physical meetings probably violates the building’s insurance policies given this type of activity falls outside of insured uses. Thirdly, as the question highlights, walking customers in and out of the building is disruptive to the peace and quiet use of the apartment house, as no one wants their home life to be inundated with constant foot traffic. Indeed, one of the primary arguments advanced to prohibit daily or weekly short-term rentals is just that – creating an atmosphere of new people coming and going may be appropriate for hotels and motels but is hardly conducive to quality apartment living.
The SFAA Lease says as much:
“14. USE: The Premises shall be used as a permanent, full-time dwelling for residential purposes only and for no other reason. No retail or commercial use of the Premises shall be made unless such use conforms to applicable zoning laws and the prior written consent of Owner is obtained in advance of such proposed use. As a condition for granting such permission, Owner may require that Tenant obtain liability insurance for the benefit of Owner. Tenant and Tenant’s guests shall not use the Premises, nor the Building or the property where the Premises is located, in violation of any law, statute, or ordinance. Use of the Premises for an illegal purpose shall constitute a substantial and material breach of this Agreement and shall be a just cause for recovery of possession of the Premises.”
Thus, when faced with someone using the apartment beyond the standard work-from-home allowance, lodge an appropriate objection immediately. Begin with written warnings. If those are ignored, consult with your legal counsel so that a proper notice to perform can be issued. Whatever you do, do not ignore the situation. If you do, three adverse occurrences may haunt you. One, you may “waive” the ability to stop the conduct down the road, as the law frowns upon delayed action. Two, other building residents may grow increasingly irritated and rightfully take action to reduce their rent or, worse yet, summon you to superior court for failing to provide habitable housing. Three, one of the tenant’s customers may “slip and fall” or otherwise become injured at the building and as mentioned above, your insurance could disclaim coverage because commercial usage in a residential apartment building is probably not allowed under the insurance policy. In sum, take the complaint seriously, investigate it promptly, and, if necessary, consult with legal counsel to stop this behavior. Stated succinctly, politely but forcefully remind the industrious renter to confine work-at-home to word processing and virtual meetings without in-person visits.