Would you like a private office in your home?

[totallyproperty]

The financial, legal and practical implications of setting up office in your home are often ignored by those given the option to work from home. This is a trend which has continued to grow around the world but you need to make yourself fully aware of any potential issues with your property, taxes and possible conflicts with the local authorities.

The idea of working from home would suit many of us but you need to be careful! Have you any experience about building a private office in your home?

 

[Nicholas Wallwork]

You do have to be careful but it can also be to your advantage. You can claim home office use as part of your accounts but you need to make sure this is 100% office use and you claim correctly. Also if you build a separate building you need to ensure you have the correct planning. If it's solely an office you need to ensure it's either got commercial planning OR if it's built under PD (permitted development) it's only an "occasional" office and is used for the enjoyment of the main residence as well so as not to get into any planning issues.

As always check with your accountant on the finance side and check on the planning portal (http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/workingfromhome/) for the planning permission side and ensure you're not in breach of anything there either...

As always do your homework and due diligence and you should be fine as working from home is a great way to have a more flexible lifestyle and save costs.