Housing Minister Grant Shapps has urged social landlords, councils and housing associations to allow their tenants to set up businesses from home and carry out their work at home.

Up to 95 per cent of housing associations currently ask tenants to get written permission from their landlords to be able to work from home – and many tenants are concerned that they will be denied their request.

As a result, just five per cent of council tenants work from home, whilst the figure sits at 11 per cent for private tenants or homeowners. Of the 200,000 businesses which people run from home, just 22,000 are run from those properties owned by councils or housing associations.

Shapps said, "Tenants should have the same opportunities as anyone else, and landlords have the key to unlocking this untapped entrepreneurial talent. I want them to get the message out loud and clear to their residents that wherever possible, and in the majority of cases, they will be able to set up and run their new businesses from home.

"I urge them (councils) to use their common sense and, where a tenant is making a reasonable request to start their career at home, that it be granted," he added.