Employee works from home, landlord tries to charge them $200/month commercial usage fee: 'I literally just sit there'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Apr 16, 2026 9:15 AM EDT

How do you cope with a landlord who demands unexpected payments?

It is an unfortunate fact of renting a place to live that the people who own these types of properties have a vested interest in extracting as much money as possible from their tenants. What's more, a lot of them do not care about even pretending to be ethical about it. What you may think is just a normal part of living in a place they see as another opportunity to increase their profits.

With working from home becoming increasingly normalized, more landlords can expect to have tenants who are using their living space as an office as well as a house. It is not like most remote employees are doing anything crazier than sitting at their computer all day.

Unfortunately, there are landlords who cannot accept that a person may use their home for work as well as leisure, and they try to capitalize on that as a result. There are plenty of other people who spend just as much time at home, but they are not necessarily penalized for it. It is just that not everybody is comfortable with the idea of a professional who can do their job where they live.

 

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  • A man working from home looks at his laptop while talking on his cell phone
    via May Gauthier

    A man working from home looks at his laptop while talking on his cell phone

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

     

  • In this story, a tenant had an established setup for working from home. Their landlord had been unaware of this arrangement until he saw their office space when he came to attend to some routine maintenance at the property.

    Shortly after this, he sent an email claiming that remote work was a violation of the residential-only lease. He was demanding $200 extra a month for this ‘commercial use’, and the tenant was left wondering if this was something that he was allowed to do. They didn't feel that the way he was approaching this was acceptable, and they didn't want to pay extra.

  • My landlord is charging me a $200 a month commercial use fee because I work from home? (CA)

    so my landlord came by for a quick maintenance thing yesterday and saw my monitor and desk setup. today i wake up to an email saying that working from home violates my lease
    via Aggravating-Fox8553
  • A man works on his laptop in his living room, his cell phone beside him on the table
    via May Gauthier

    A man works on his laptop in his living room, his cell phone beside him on the table

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • cuz its residential only ngl like WHAT? now hes demanding an extra $200 every month for "excessive wear and tear" just because im inside the apartment all day. i literally just sit there
    via Aggravating-Fox8553
  • typing on my laptop quietly tbh. i feel like im going crazy. is this actually normal?? are these really the rules for renters nowadays or is the economy just so bad right now that landlords are getting this desperate to squeeze extra money out of us?
    via Aggravating-Fox8553
  • A man sits at a table at home, looking at his phone
    via May Gauthier

    A man sits at a table at home, looking at his phone

  • itsJustE12 Look up "minor home occupation" as related to working from home. Typically, commercial use requires more than 2 employees, foot traffic, noise or other related impacts on the area. Your landlord is ridiculous.
    via itsJustE12
  • SuelnA2 That simply doesn't sound legal! Consult your lease and an attorney!!!
    via SueInA2
  • Successful_Bat_654 Working from home has nothing to do with zoning. If it's not in your lease you owe him nothing.
    via Successful_Bat_654
  • Agile-Surprise 7217 This sounds totally not legal unless something is in your lease. Geeze imagine if he told a stay at home mom or an elderly retired person that he was going to charge them more because "excessive wear and tear". Yeesh. Completely unreasonable.
    via Agile-Surprise7217
  • EOhater Extra wear and tear to what??? The couch, desk, and chair that presumably you own? Or somehow is being in your apartment longer during the day gonna all of a sudden mess up the paint job? I'm angry for you. These landlords are too much
    via EOhater
  • AcanthisittaPlus5047 On the face of it, I would call BS. Does he charge SAHMs an extra $200/month? They would be inside the apartment all day also. I would definitely contact a tenant's rights attorney. Have your lease and email handy.
    via AcanthisittaPlus5047
  • MealParticular1327 I'm a California landlord and attorney (this isn't legal advice and I'm not your attorney). This isn't even remotely legal. Ignore that sh and report him to the housing department.
    via MealParticular1327
  • Kbern4444 lol not legal at all as far as I am aware. Greedy POS landlord. Does he charge stay at home parents or unemployed people the same "wear and tear" fee?
    via Kbern4444
  • Own Jeweler 1936 I work from home and thats not a thing.
    via Own_Jeweler_1936
  • InsanelyAverageFella I rent from private landlords and try to get a read on the person when they show me the apartment. This is exact why. There are different types of people and your landlord is a nickel and dime ah le. He doesn't see the value in a worry free tenant who pays rent and takes care of the place.
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • This landlord will squeeze out the good tenant and will eat vacancy between tenants and will risk getting an a h le tenant and will then cry about how they are so unlucky to get such bad tenants when they claim to be such nice landlords.
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • Your best bet is to check with a lawyer or residencial advocacy group that might offer free consultations to see what your lease and legal rights are. You can only deal with these guys with legal means.
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • If you find some legal standing, go back to him and explain that you have legal standing and honestly you aren't looking to nit pick little stuff because you love the apartment and like your landlord (lie but butter him up) and you are
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • just trying to be a good tenant. Explain you want to keep things as is and would rather just forget the whole misunderstanding and more forward positively.
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • But seriously, look for a new place when your lease is up because this landlord is now thinking you are stealing $200/month of value from him and will either up the rent or fudge move out fees and cleaning fees to get more money out of you.
    via InsanelyAverageFella
  • I hope he gets an a hole tenant after you leave and wishes for the days of you being his tenant.
    via InsanelyAverageFella

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landlord employee working from home tenant wfh money entitled people
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