Employees working from home

Responsibilities of homeworkers

Employees who work from home have a number of key responsibilities. They should:

• check whether there are any restrictions on homeworking within their terms of the lease, mortgage or tenancy agreement for their property
• keep their insurance company informed about the new use of their home
• check if planning permission will be required and applying for it if necessary - though this is unlikely to be the case for a home office
• check if business rates rather than council tax are payable on the part of the property used for work

Employees should also be aware that if they set aside a room to work in that has no domestic purpose, they may be liable for capital gains tax if the property is sold.