• Can I start my dance classes at home?

My husband and I currently reside at the 2nd floor of an independent house in Gurgaon. I am a professional dancer and teacher and am planning to start my dance classes in the living room of our home as it is very spacious. So far in my personal rehearsals, there have been no issues and we have spoken to the 1st and ground floor tenants for any issues. They have no problems. In fact the tenants living on the ground floor run their homeopathic clinic and the owner has allowed a NGO to run in the basement. However today when we informed him of intention to start dance classes he did not allow us.

Is there any legal recourse for this? I read up on a few cases and it seems that taking certain art-related classes is not a commercial activity.
Asked 7 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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6 Answers

1)you need the consent of landlord to run dance classes in your rented flat

2) since you are staying in the house you can use part of the house for running dance classes with landlord consent

3) if landlord refuses to grant you permission you have no legal recourse as flat has been given to you only for residence

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96809 Answers
7811 Consultations

1. If you use Art related activity to make commercial benefit then it becomes a commercial activity.

2. You can start your class and show it as if it is not a commercial ,activity and if anybody pays anything to you, that will be treated by you as donation and not fees.

3. However, you shall have to ensure that your neighbours are not disturbed in any way for your conducting the dance classes.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27453 Answers
726 Consultations

1) you can lay carpet on the floor to protect the marble flooring

2) offer to compensate the landlord for any damage caused to flat

3) if landlord refuses drop the idea of conducting dance classes

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96809 Answers
7811 Consultations

1. Since you are residing in an accommodation which has been occupied by you as per the tenancy agreement, it is pertinent to see what have been written in the said tenancy agreement for conducting such teaching activities.

2. If it is written therein that you can not call outsiders or conduct any classes without the written permission of the land lord, then probably you shall have to take his consent ordinarily.

3. If it is written that you can not conduct any commercial activities therein then do not show that you are collecting fees for teaching dance and running a commercial activity in your premises.

4. it is ridiculous to learn the apprehension of your land lord that his marble floor will be damaged for few girls dancing there upon.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27453 Answers
726 Consultations

it is legal to use residential property for commercial purpose, provided that, the prior permission of Municipal authorities of that area should be taken and if the professional is a tenant then landlord’s permission is required.

Any activity relating to the purchase and sale of goods is called a commercial activity. The work done by professionals involves element of service and is not a commercial activity. Hence, it is not illegal.

in all cases whether it is Delhi, Noida or Gurgaon, the services rendered by Lawyers, Doctors, Chartered Accountants and Architects to name a few, have remained unaffected when it comes to usage of basement for commercial activities. These services as discussed earlier do not fall within the ambit of commercial activities as they are service activities and do not involve sale and purchase of goods. However, for all other kinds of commercial activities as per the prevalent building laws or bye- laws, municipality laws; specific permissions are required to be obtained before taking up a commercial activity in a residential basement.

The dance class to be conducted in the II floor may not be permitted if this is a residential premises.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
87009 Answers
2335 Consultations

The neighbors have no issues as we have spoken with them and they are not being disturbed. We have no started any commercial activity yet but the owner is still not allowing us. His concerns seem to be the following: 1) his marble flooring will get ruined and 2) the building will vibrate. We assured him on both accounts are ready to bear damages however he is not ready to budge.

Please remember that the commercial activities may not be permitted to be done from the II floor of the premises. The dance class is also a commercial activity

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
87009 Answers
2335 Consultations

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