Service occupancy rights

Michele1800

Hi all! I'm posting this message to know what my rights as a service occupier are. I work in a hotel and my employer provides me with accommodation free of charge, which is a staff room in the premises. I'm on holiday for 2 weeks now. 20 minutes before departure from the hotel the General Manager asked me to vacate my room, so that it could have been used by another staff member (although there is an extra, smaller staff room adjacent to mine, currently unoccupied, they could use). I refused to do so, for two reasons: the first one being the ridiculous amount of notice I had been given. How am I supposed to move elsewhere all my belongings (which are a lot) in under 20 minutes? Consider I had just finished my breakfast shift and I only had 20 minutes to have a shower and catch the bus to the airport. Secondly, I have lived and worked in the hotel for 6 months. I've got no properties in the UK and no other residential address. I have actually been mentioned in the last UK census as the only person living in the building on a permanent basis. I claimed that all of this makes of my staff room my home. And that nobody could gain access to it without my prior consent. Let alone rummage through my private stuff to move it somewhere else, even just temporarily. I said that, when I come back from my holidays, if I notice that my room has been occupied in my absence at any given time, I would have reported the matter to the police, as if someone had broken into my home. Can anybody here advise me on the matter, please? I cannot find information on this specific point anywhere on the internet. I know service occupiers have to vacate their room in case they lose their job, but this is not the case. I'm just on holiday. Can they legally enter my room while I'm away and move my stuff somewhere else against my will? Thank you very much for your help!

Jillanddy

But it isn't your home, it is their property. Their request may have been untimely and unreasonable, but you have no right to occupy. You also have no right to a job either, with only six months service, so threatening to call the police on your employers, who also happen to own your room, was very unwise. By the time you return you may have neither a job or a place to stay. 

It may come to nothing, but I would suggest that you try to ensure you have a possible alternate place to live for when you return from holiday, as you may find that this is the end of your employment if they disliked being threatened by an employee. They do not require a court order to evict you because you pay no rent.

The UK census only records where people were on 21 March 2021 (which is more than 6 months ago) - it accords no right to reside at a specific address that they happened to be present at on that day. 

And yes, they can enter their room on their property and move you possessions into safe storage. Your permission is not necessary. It may come to a dispute about potential damage or missing items, but without evidence you may struggle to get anything done about any claim you might make. 

comeandgo

There was not a uk census.  The English did one in 2021  and Scotland was last month.

Jillanddy

comeandgo said:

There was not a uk census.  The English did one in 2021  and Scotland was last month.

Sorry you are correct, there wasn't a UK census. It was England and Wales in 2021. 

Own_Worst_Enermy

I know when I started as live in with a nationwide hotel group in on 17th May 2001 as a young live in receptionist, from then then my hourly rate was as decreased for live in purposes and I always remember the hotels say they changed in around the year of 2000 when hotels had to start making a charge for live in (there was some sort of law change from what I remember being told in my interview) so I think I think you've been very lucky not to have your rate of pay changed. I left roughly 4 live in accommodations in my time in uk hotels and was expected to move same day as finishing shift/duty.

Marcon

Michele1800 said:

Hi all! I'm posting this message to know what my rights as a service occupier are. I work in a hotel and my employer provides me with accommodation free of charge, which is a staff room in the premises. I'm on holiday for 2 weeks now. 20 minutes before departure from the hotel the General Manager asked me to vacate my room, so that it could have been used by another staff member (although there is an extra, smaller staff room adjacent to mine, currently unoccupied, they could use). I refused to do so, for two reasons: the first one being the ridiculous amount of notice I had been given. How am I supposed to move elsewhere all my belongings (which are a lot) in under 20 minutes? Consider I had just finished my breakfast shift and I only had 20 minutes to have a shower and catch the bus to the airport. Secondly, I have lived and worked in the hotel for 6 months. I've got no properties in the UK and no other residential address. I have actually been mentioned in the last UK census as the only person living in the building on a permanent basis. I claimed that all of this makes of my staff room my home. And that nobody could gain access to it without my prior consent. Let alone rummage through my private stuff to move it somewhere else, even just temporarily. I said that, when I come back from my holidays, if I notice that my room has been occupied in my absence at any given time, I would have reported the matter to the police, as if someone had broken into my home. Can anybody here advise me on the matter, please? I cannot find information on this specific point anywhere on the internet. I know service occupiers have to vacate their room in case they lose their job, but this is not the case. I'm just on holiday. Can they legally enter my room while I'm away and move my stuff somewhere else against my will? Thank you very much for your help!

What 'crime' do you think would have been committed?

marcia_

 Imo if the room forms part of your contract? They shouldn't be forcing you out just because you are on holiday. 

Marcon

marcia_ said:

 Imo if the room forms part of your contract? They shouldn't be forcing you out just because you are on holiday. 

Completely agree with you, but it's not a crime. 

Jillanddy

marcia_ said:

 Imo if the room forms part of your contract? They shouldn't be forcing you out just because you are on holiday. 

But that is an opinion. One that the OP shares. Unfortunately, it is not one that the law shares. If it is a service occupancy - and there is no evidence yet to say that it is - then because the OP occupies it rent free the employer retains control of the property (and a service occupancy is often a self-contained property, not just a room on the property) then the employer has the right of entry at all times and the employee does not have exclusive possession of the property. But even that only applies if the employer requires the employee to live on the premises - if they do not require it but simply allow it, then it isn't even a service occupancy. They would have no more right to the room than a hotel guest does. All of which may be moot if the employer doesn't take kindly to being threatened by their staff who have only six months service and so can be sacked with ease. 

In many ways, this is not much different than you allowing someone to stay in a room in your house. Would you expect them to have the right to stay there, that you lose all rights over the room, and that when you say you want to use the room for something else whilst they are away, they tell you that they will call the police if you go in there?

Based on what the OP has said, the employer may not have been reasonable in what they wanted, but they appear to be within the law. The law doesn't ask for reasonable. 

Michele1800

Jillanddy said:

marcia_ said:

 Imo if the room forms part of your contract? They shouldn't be forcing you out just because you are on holiday. 

But that is an opinion. One that the OP shares. Unfortunately, it is not one that the law shares. If it is a service occupancy - and there is no evidence yet to say that it is - then because the OP occupies it rent free the employer retains control of the property (and a service occupancy is often a self-contained property, not just a room on the property) then the employer has the right of entry at all times and the employee does not have exclusive possession of the property. But even that only applies if the employer requires the employee to live on the premises - if they do not require it but simply allow it, then it isn't even a service occupancy. They would have no more right to the room than a hotel guest does. All of which may be moot if the employer doesn't take kindly to being threatened by their staff who have only six months service and so can be sacked with ease. 

In many ways, this is not much different than you allowing someone to stay in a room in your house. Would you expect them to have the right to stay there, that you lose all rights over the room, and that when you say you want to use the room for something else whilst they are away, they tell you that they will call the police if you go in there?

Based on what the OP has said, the employer may not have been reasonable in what they wanted, but they appear to be within the law. The law doesn't ask for reasonable. 

Thank you very much for your answer. This is exactly what I was looking for. Now I know what my rights are as a mere service occupier. Their request still doesn't feel right to me, but it's within the law. 

marcia_

Marcon said:

marcia_ said:

 Imo if the room forms part of your contract? They shouldn't be forcing you out just because you are on holiday. 

Completely agree with you, but it's not a crime. 

 Never said it was but am curious as to if the OP has a contact and what it says about accommodation