Question


psu176

tenant wants to open business in her apartment...opinons plz?

I have a tenant who wants to open a candle store. For the time being she would like to save the moneys he has been spending on a store front. She asked if she could make and sale her candles (with patrons coming in) from her apartment. I am not sure about this. we are contacting our township to inquire about zoning and of course our insurance. But what else should we look at? I worry about the nuisance it may be to the neighbors and other tenants. Mostly, in the aspect of parking. We have very limited parking (each unit is allowed 2 spaces only and we have a few guest spots). What other aspects should I be looking at?

3 weeks ago - 6 answers

Best Answer

Chosen by Asker

FIRE INSURANCE????? DO you have a mortgage on teh property? Your lender may care. How much of a cut are you going to get and how? My bet is she sells 3 candles and you get 5 bucks for your trouble.

by wizjp

3 weeks ago

Asker's Rating: 

Other Answers

I would flat out say no. If she wants to have boxes of inventory and sell them online, that's fine, because she's free to use her space however she wants. But your apartment unit is not a retail area. It probably violates zoning laws and even if it doesn't it will piss off the neighbors.

by SmartA$$- 3 weeks ago

id flat out tell her no. it is an apartment complex, not a retail space. like, if she has boxes of inventory she is keeping there and she just plans to sell them online or something, fine, whatever... but if she actually wants to opperate as a store, there is no way zoning will let her do such in a residental zone. the same way she wouldnt be allowed to live in a commercial zone plus, honestly, if i were another tenant and i tried to get into my parking space one day and found someone else in it, id be pretty crabby. plus plus, what if you go through all the trouble, and by some odd twist of fate, the zoning board does approve it, and then she sells like, three candles and thats it? your out all sorts of time and money.

by Ashley D- 3 weeks ago

Heck no. I would pitch a fit if another tenant in the building tried to pull this. On the other hand, I doubt throngs of people are going to be flocking to a no-name candle store operating out of an apartment.

by Brian A- 3 weeks ago

I would say no. The apartment is not zoned for this. Plus the other tenants will not like it. PLUS, candle making is VERY messy.

by real estate guy- 3 weeks ago

If I was in your shoes, I would tell her no. I see alot of problems developing. She might want the "Store" to be small but as profit continues if it does well. You will have neighbors complaining about parking and the noise of the customers, then she will want to put signs outside for advertising. Also, the cost of insurance, which most likely will be coming out of your pocket because your insurance will want you to cover it since it's your property. And most likely it will cause you alot of stress and headaches in the long run. Plus with the fire caution, here on our local news, there was a person making candles on their stove, and it caught their apt on fire and it spread to the other apartments as well, and two people were injured as a result of it. So making candles can be very dangerous.

by Crystal A- 3 weeks ago