Any legal considerations when I hire a cleaner

[LC0210]

Hi,

 

I plan to hire a cleaner and was wondering if there are any legal considerations I should know or bear in mind about as I have not hired a cleaner before?

 

1) Do I or should I give the cleaner a contract to sign?

2) I presume I give the cleaner a set of keys to my house. I do feel a little nervous about doing that but I guess that would be most convenient for both parties.

 

 

Many thanks!

[renegadeimp]

Insurance, licence, CRB check. Those are the absolute minimum.

[unclebulgaria67]

Insurance, licence, CRB check. Those are the absolute minimum.

 

As well as them having relevant Insurance, you should contact your own Home Insurers. If you are giving them a key, you may find that theft not involving forcible and/or violent entry is not covered. So if items started to go missing or there was a theft, where there was no visible signs of entry, you may find your Insurers don't pay out. If you have any valuables such as jewellery, you might be required to take reasonable precautions.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

I'm not sure if Renegade means the cleaner's insurance or yours, but it might be worth checking that it won't affect your household insurance.

 

If you're not able to be there, have you considered using an agency? They should hold the keys, do CRB checks and so on, and they should be insured. It costs more, but you might have more peace of mind. Worth a couple of phone calls.

 

HB

[Peterbard]

Hi,

 

I plan to hire a cleaner and was wondering if there are any legal considerations I should know or bear in mind about as I have not hired a cleaner before?

 

1) Do I or should I give the cleaner a contract to sign?

2) I presume I give the cleaner a set of keys to my house. I do feel a little nervous about doing that but I guess that would be most convenient for both parties.

 

 

Many thanks!

 

I as in a similar problem myself some years ago, this is useful although somewhat depressing I found

 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Documents/Advice%20factsheets/Employment/e-information-for-small-employers.pdf.

 

I cannot recommend the following for obvious reasons, but i ended up letting a relative of a pal of mine do the odd day for me and we came to a consideration, have to say i have had no problems.

[LC0210]

Thanks for the good advice. I will contact my home insurance and ask them the question.

 

I think most cleaners would not have insurance. Were I live in London most cleaners are from Eastern Europe.

 

Do you know how much it costs to do a CRB check on someone?

[honeybee13]

They're called DBS ckecks nowadays, btw.

 

I'm not sure a private individual can carry one out, I think it's restricted to employers, etc. Have a read of the website.

 

https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/overview

 

HB

[Peterbard]

If nthere are children or vulnerable adult at the premises you will need the enhanced check.

[Migster]

It sounds like you are looking to find an individual cleaner, but there are plenty of companies that specialise in providing domestic cleaners. You'll probably end up paying slightly more per hour if you go down this route, but their people should all be vetted and insured so you don't have to bother with that, plus they can send someone else if your cleaner is off sick, leaves, etc.

[Sidewinder]

If you employ a cleaner privately, make sure that it is on the basis of them being self employed or you could find yourself as an 'employer' and having to pay holiday pay, redundancy entitlements and all of the other red tape that this could involve!

[Ethel Street]

Insurance, licence, CRB check. Those are the absolute minimum.

 

Licence? For what?

 

If you employ a cleaner privately, make sure that it is on the basis of them being self employed or you could find yourself as an 'employer' and having to pay holiday pay, redundancy entitlements and all of the other red tape that this could involve!

 

And a pension!

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3097868/Are-ready-pay-500-year-nanny-pension.html

 

And you'll have to make them prove their right to work in UK and retain the documentation for possible inspection by the Border Agency.

 

Definitely make sure they are self-employed.

 

Whilst this couldn't be recommended on CAG the majority of cleaners, unless they work through an agency, are paid cash-in-hand with no documentation of any sort, and found by word of mouth recommendation. If you start going all contractual on them and asking them to complete DBS applications you might well find that they aren't interested any longer.