Renting out a workshop space

[donedeal511]

I have a detached garage with a finished 650 sq foot room above. It's fully finished including ac & heat, carpeted and a few windows. My family never uses this space except for a little storage. It seems like such wasted space right now. Can I rent this out as a "workshop"? Downstairs Garage not included.

Is this something worth perusing? I'd have to investigate the legality, insurance and tax issues.
Is there a market for this type of rental? (Suburban CT)
If so what are estimated rentals per square foot.
There's no bathroom out there but there is a water line already in place so I could install one but wouldn't be worth doing that unless I was definitely getting a rental out of it.

[AMandM]

To me, a carpeted space can't be a workshop, because in a workshop you do things like saw, sand, paint, etc., that make messes on the floor.  Having said that, depending on where you live there could well be a market for a workspace of some kind.  Maybe you could rent it as office space, or a photography studio?

[rothwem]

I wouldn't do it, unless it was expressly for storage.  People rent out workshop space to do stuff they can't do in their own garage.  Why can't they do it in their own garage?  Probably because its noisy, dirty, loud and/or dangerous. 

Do you want to be responsible for someone doing something dangerous in your space and potentially hurting themselves?  Do you want to deal with a tenant dirtying up your space?  Do you want to have an impact driver, an air compressor and a table saw running at 2am?

What I WOULD consider though, is finishing the upper room to make it a studio apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen, and renting that. 

[trollwithamustache]

Check your local zoning rules. It almost certainly violates them if you are in a residential neighborhood, but people do this all the time. (assuming there are apartment dwellers nearby who may need the space)  It comes down to risk tolerance, trust of the tenant and how much traffic the tenant drives, (which drives your chances of getting caught).