Tied Accommodation

If your employer provides your home it's called tied accommodation. You'll either have a tenancy or an occupancy.

Service tenancy

To have a tenancy, you must usually meet the following requirements:

• you pay your employer rent
• you are not required to live in your home to do your job
• if you chose to, you could live somewhere else and still do your job

Your rights if you have a tenancy

Your rights depend on what type of tenancy you have:

• if you moved in on or after 1 December 2017, you'll have a private residential tenancy
• if you moved in between 2 January 1989 and 1 December 2017, you'll have an assured tenancy or a short assured tenancy
• if you moved in before 2 January 1989, you could have a regulated tenancy
• if your employer is the council or a housing association, you could have a Scottish secure tenancy

You could have a common law tenancy instead if:

• you live in police or military housing
• you rent from the Crown and your tenancy started before 1 December 2017

If you have a tenancy and your employment ends

Your tenancy usually ends when your employment ends. Your landlord must follow a strict legal process to evict you.

Service occupancy

If your employer gave you the accommodation as part of your job and you have to live there to be able to do your job, this is known as an occupancy.

Usually in your employment contract it'll say

• you must live there to do your job better
• you must move out if your employment ends
• you do not pay rent or your rent is covered by your work

Examples of an occupancy

• you're a live-in nurse, carer or housekeeper
• you live and work in a nursing home or sheltered housing
• you live and work on the grounds of an estate, garden or park

If you have a tenancy and your employment ends

Your rights will depend on what is written in your employment contract.