Tenancy / contract of employment

[leajon]

Hi everyone could do with some help on whether this contract i have signed stupidly is legal,

Basically i have been employed as a caretaker for over five years to look after a large building and its grounds and i am responsible for all maintenance issues gardening and security of the building ect seven days a week 365 days, i sighned a tenancy agreement and on it where deposit is mentioned it says see special letting terms which states " the landlord agrees that during the terms of the tenancy that the tenant will not pay rent whilst the tenant is acting on a caretaker basis, the duties of the caretaker are shown on Appendix 1 attached " , on this appendix are my duties listed as previously mentioned basically anything and everything , now there are no hours mentioned or holiday entitlement and no hourly wages in fact i do not get paid , i have been in touch with acas and hmrc and they say i should be getting paid and a rent deducted from my wage .

 

What i want to know is the agreement i have sighned is it legal ?

[Emmzzi]

Maybe not, I would however ask what you are trying to achieve?

 

If you were on a minimum wage zero hours contract, and paying a market rent for the property, would you be better or worse off?

 

Has something happened to make you think things are unfair? (which is not the same as legally binding )

[leajon]

Maybe not, I would however ask what you are trying to achieve?

 

Get paid for the work i have done .

 

If you were on a minimum wage zero hours contract, and paying a market rent for the property, would you be better or worse off?

 

If i was on the minimum wage then i would have to pay rent as set by the goverment as it stands i always feel i am in debt to them .

 

Has something happened to make you think things are unfair? (which is not the same as legally binding )

 

The work load that has been placed on me , and their attitude towards me has changed they seem to be dogging me despite all that i have done for them and they are trying to provoke a reaction from me .

[Emmzzi]

So, how does your workload compare to market rent for the property? Is it still reasonable?

 

Presumably you have the option of changing job at some point?

[leajon]

So, how does your workload compare to market rent for the property? Is it still reasonable?

They could not legaly rent the property out , Electrics in some parts of the flat have been illegal for some thirty years there is no insulation in the roof space no double glazing and they have never given me a gas safe cert.

Market rent does not come into it with regard to the role as livin caretaker check out national-minimum-wage-accommodation

 

Presumably you have the option of changing job at some point?

 

Of course i have ,

 

Lokk mate i just want to know if the contract i have is legal for them to use or have they acted against the law ?

[Emmzzi]

I'd say ACAS are correct on this one. But really it's more about what you want to do about it.

 

Hence the questions.

 

Mate.

[steampowered]

There are two perspectives I can think of on this: tax and minimum wage.

 

On minimum wage, there is information on this here: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-accommodation. Free accommodation is deemed to have a certain value for the purposes of calculating whether or not you are getting the minimum wage. You should follow the calculator on that page to check whether or not you are getting the minimum wage, as the calculator takes the free accommodation into account.

 

On tax, see https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-accommodation/overview.

 

It sounds like you might not be getting the minimum wage you will be entitled to if you are an employee, but you would need to enter your hours into the calculator to check.

[numbers666]

Also foir tax purposes the free accomdation should be declared by ER to HmRc and tax paid under any PSA inforce.

 

A value should be applied to the rentable value and then grossed up for tax ni at the EE's rates.

 

Reason: an employee would normally pay this from net wages. This is a benefit in kind.

 

Same as live in hotel staff where accomdation is included in contract of employment, tho this usually operated on a licence not SHTA.

[ericsbrother]

does the contract say that you cannot take other employment?

As you havent started yet there is still time to clear things up and find out what is expected of you.