Accommodation that comes with your job

Your rights depend on if you must live in the accommodation to do your job.

What is tied accommodation?

Tied accommodation means you live somewhere that is provided by your employer.

You might pay rent yourself or it may be taken from your wages before you get paid. Your payslip should show these deductions.

If your housing comes with your job, you could be either a:

• service occupier

• service tenant

Who is a 'service occupier'?

You're a service occupier if either:

• you must live in the accommodation to do your job

• your employment contract says you must live there to do your job properly

Common examples of service occupiers are:

• live-in carers, nannies or housekeepers

• hotel or pub employees who live on the premises

• caretakers or gardeners who live in or near their workplace

Your contract

Your contract should set out:

• the rent you have to pay or the amount taken out of your wages for rent

• how much notice you get if you are dismissed or made redundant

• the notice you must give if you resign

This information might be in your employment contract, or you might be given a separate occupancy agreement.

What happens if your job ends

If you're a service occupier, your right to live in your home usually ends when your job ends.

You may still have 'basic protection from eviction'. This means your former employer needs to apply for an eviction order from court if you don't leave when your job ends.

Your former employer will not need a court order in either of these situations:

• you live there rent free

• it's their home too and you share living space with them

What counts as rent free accommodation

If you don't have to pay rent and get normal wages for your job, then the accommodation provided by your employer is rent free. You can be evicted without a court order.

If you don't have to pay rent but you get lower wages because of the accommodation, you are paying 'money's worth'.

This means you're treated as if you paid rent. Your employer must apply for an eviction order unless you live with them.

If you've been sacked unfairly

You may be able to challenge an unfair dismissal through an employment tribunal.

This will take time. It's unlikely that you will be able to stay in your home during this process.

Find out more about unfair dismissal from Citizens Advice

If you do not need to live in your home to do your job

If you rent from your employer but do not need to live there to do your job, you count as a 'service tenant'.

The type of tenancy you have depends on who you work for and rent from. For example, a private company or individual, council or housing association.

Your employer must follow the legal eviction process if they want you to leave even if your job has ended. Find out more about:

• eviction from a private tenancy

• eviction from a council or housing association tenancy