What standards does worker accommodation have to meet in the UK?

Is there one UK standard for worker accommodation?

No. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set minimum welfare facilities for construction sites, such as toilets, washing, changing and rest areas, but they say nothing about where the crew sleeps. Off site, the standard comes from housing and licensing law, and that law depends on two things: what kind of property it is, and whether it is in England, Wales or Scotland.

UK crews stay in very different property types. Across 24 UK bookings in our system (cancellations excluded), crews stayed in more than ten different towns and cities, from London and Slough to Kettering, Wigan and the Ayrshire coast. The median stay was 21 nights, and 54% were under 30 nights [Bonjour Residences OS, 6 October 2026, n=24]. That is longer than our overall median of 16 nights (n=201, all countries).

Situation	Rules that apply	Ask the host for
Home rented to a crew in Scotland	Short-term let licence and its mandatory conditions	Licence number, gas safety report, EICR, PAT report, maximum occupancy
Shared house in England with 5+ residents from 2+ households living there as their main home	Mandatory HMO licence, minimum bedroom sizes	HMO licence and room sizes
Shared house in Scotland with 3+ unrelated residents living there as their main home	HMO licence	HMO licence
Any paying guest accommodation in England and Wales	Fire safety law (FSO 2005)	Confirmation of a current fire risk assessment

Scotland: a crew home usually needs a short-term let licence

Scotland has the clearest rule for crew homes, and it is where 11 of our 24 UK bookings were. Under the Licensing of Short-term Lets Order 2022, a short-term let is residential accommodation provided by a host in the course of business to a guest who does not use it as their only or principal home. A crew renting a house or flat from a landlord for a few weeks usually fits that definition. The exclusions include hotels, aparthotels and hostels, and accommodation owned by the employer itself, but not a home an employer rents from a separate host for its workers.

The licence comes with mandatory conditions. The host must have working fire and carbon monoxide detection, an annual gas safety inspection, an electrical inspection at least every five years with an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), a Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) report, and must not exceed the maximum number of guests on the licence. Check that maximum occupancy before you put six people in a four-bed house.

England and Wales: when does a crew house become an HMO?

A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a shared house where people from more than one household share a kitchen or bathroom and live there as their only or main residence. In England and Wales a large HMO, with five or more people from two or more households, needs a mandatory licence from the council, and the government notes that this applies even when the employer pays the rent. In England, licences must include minimum bedroom sizes: 6.51 m² for one adult and 10.22 m² for two adults.

A crew on a three-week rotation usually keeps its main home elsewhere, so the house is not its main residence. The exception that catches employers: migrant or seasonal workers housed by or on behalf of their employer, partly in return for their work, are treated as living there as their main residence. In Scotland the HMO threshold is lower, at three or more unrelated people living there as their only or main residence.

Fire safety applies whatever the length of stay

In England and Wales, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to paying guest accommodation, including self-catering lets. The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment.

What if you charge the crew for the accommodation?

If you employ the workers and they are close to the minimum wage, the accommodation counts in the minimum wage calculation. From April 2026 the National Minimum Wage accommodation offset is £11.10 a day, or £77.70 a week. If you charge more than that, the excess reduces the pay that counts towards the minimum wage. For posted workers in the EU, the rules are different, see Can we deduct crew accommodation from posted workers' pay?

What should bookers do differently?

• Classify the property before you compare prices. Write the category (hotel, short-term let, shared house) on the booking.
• In Scotland, ask for the short-term let licence number. Check the maximum occupancy against your headcount and ask for the gas safety report, EICR and PAT report.
• For shared houses in England, ask whether the property is licensed as an HMO and what the bedroom sizes are, particularly if you are housing workers from overseas for long periods.
• Get fire safety in writing. Ask for a current fire risk assessment.
• Match the property to the length of stay. Crews staying a month or more are often better in whole homes on mid-term terms. Our clients have saved 20-30% by using the correct market for the length of stay.

We compare accommodation standards across the EU in What accommodation standards do we have to meet for posted workers in Europe? For UK projects, see our guides for Sizewell C, Hinkley Point C and Peterhead.

FAQ

Is there a legal minimum room size for worker accommodation in the UK?

Only in some cases. Licensed HMOs in England must have bedrooms of at least 6.51 m² for one adult and 10.22 m² for two adults.

Do contractors need a licence to rent a house for workers in Scotland?

The host needs it, not the contractor. A home rented to workers who do not live there as their main home is usually a short-term let and needs a licence, unless it is excluded, for example a hotel, an aparthotel or accommodation owned by the employer.

Does CDM 2015 cover off-site worker accommodation?

No. Schedule 2 of the CDM Regulations 2015 sets minimum welfare facilities on construction sites. Off-site accommodation is governed by housing, licensing and fire safety law.