Apartment bylaws and zoning

phater phagan

Hello,

Is there a legal prohibition for an owner to run a business from a building that is zoned exclusively for residential use?

If bylaws prohibit short-term rentals can that be circumvented by an owner who rents out exclusively to short-term visitors?

Thanks

Peregrinus

• Is there a legal prohibition for an owner to run a business from a building that is zoned exclusively for residential use?

The person running the business is in breach of planning requirements. It's up to the planning authority — the local government — to take enforcement action.

• If bylaws prohibit short-term rentals can that be circumvented by an owner who rents out exclusively to short-term visitors?

Can they, as in might they get away with it? They might. On the other hand, they might not.

Can they, as in, is there a loophole that allows them to rent to short-term visitors? You'd need to read the bye-laws in detail but probably not. Renting to a short-term visitor is pretty much by definition a short-term rental, and I can't see how you'd argue that it's not on the face of it a violation of a by-law prohibiting short-term rentals.

Victor

"Is there a legal prohibition for an owner to run a business from a building that is zoned exclusively for residential use?" By "zoned", do you mean in the city or county development plan? Such plans often have lists indicating what might or might not be allowed. However, the planning permission the property has may be much more important.

Having a home office, with no visitors, stock storage, etc. generally isn't a problem.

If I build a fireworks factory in an apartment block, that is a problem. However, if I have planning permission (that would be profoundly difficult to obtain), it would be much less of a problem. I would still need fire certification, explosives licence, etc.

The mere letting of a residential property for residential uses is consistent with residential zoning and planning permission. Letting for holiday purposes is generally considered not permitted, unless it has planning permission. There is a sliding scale of what is permitted when it comes to short-term rentals.

"If bylaws prohibit short-term rentals can that be circumvented by an owner who rents out exclusively to short-term visitors?"

What bye-laws?

Caranica

You also need to include management company rules. Most deeds/leases prohibit operating a business from an apartment. That doesn't mean you can't work from home. I know of a case where someone was offering a massage service (genuine, not a cover for something else!) from an apartment block and the management company was able to force them to move the business out of the block.