I have recently received a detailed letter from a long-standing licensee who runs his own successful operation in a tourist area. For many years he has employed live-in staff and has had no problem getting them out when they leave the employment.
He recently purchased accommodation close by the pub in which he has installed some of the live-in staff to make more room available at the licensed premises. He wants to know whether it would be possible to write something into their contract to say that their salary includes rent of, say, £100 a week so that if they leave his employ he can charge them a higher rent, or continue to charge them if they stay on. He does not want the problem of being deprived of his own accommodation for several months each time. Does it make a difference legally that they have rooms in a different building from the employment location?
Well, the answer to this question certainly lies in the contract of employment, but the landlord's solution is not for the best, in my view.
It is vitally important to avoid creating a tenancy between himself and his employees. He should not use the expression "rent" in any way, or suggest or imply that these persons are paying directly or indirectly in respect of their accommodation.
Where this happens, he may find that a legal tenancy has been created and, as many landlords know to their cost, it is nowadays far more difficult to obtain legal repossession of a domestic tenancy once it has been created and allowed to run for some time.
Accommodation has, however, always been part of the employment law of the licensed and hotel trades. The Wages Councils which used to control the terms and conditions of the industry had separate wages scales for staff who lived in and lived out. But more importantly, they also allowed for employers to make a deduction from wages in respect of meals and accommodation.
It is therefore best for him to follow this same pattern of working, and write into every contract of employment that is affected that accommodation is provided only as part of the employment and that the worker occupies the room or area merely as a service occupancy, which must be surrendered when, for whatever reason, the employment ceases.
A useful phrase in this respect is "board and lodging", which suggests that the employer will provide that which is necessary for the worker to eat and sleep and have somewhere to put his things and spend his time off.
It should be an express condition of the employment contract that the accommodation provided must be given up at the same time as the job ceases. The fact that the accommodation is not in the licensed premises will not affect the issue, because in this case the licensee owns both sets of premises and should have made the position clear to the employee at the start of the contract.
Readers who find themselves in this position should, however, check the wording of contracts or letters of appointment with their own solicitor, to ensure that they allow them to treat ex-employees as trespassers and therefore have them removed. There are other issues that surround the procedure to be adopted to regain possession of illegally occupied premises, which space does not permit us to pursue here. But the moral of this story is to follow the basic rules, create only a service occupancy and then you should not experience difficulty, except in extreme cases.