Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012 (the Law)

Introduction

The Control of Housing & Work (Jersey) Law 2012 (CHW Law) deals with all aspects of housing and business set-up in Jersey and has been in force since 1 July 2013. This briefing deals with the Jersey property aspects of the CHW Law.

Residential Status

There are four categories of residential status: Entitled, Licensed, Entitled for Work and Registered.

Any individual buying or leasing property, or starting work in Jersey must apply for a registration card which shows their residential status.

Who and what is covered by each of these new categories?

Entitled status

• an individual who is Jersey-born and has resided for a period or periods of at least 10 years in Jersey;
• an individual who is not Jersey-born but who has resided for a continuous period of at least 10 years in Jersey;
• an individual who is not Jersey-born (but whose parent is and has been resident in Jersey for at least 10 years) who arrived in Jersey before the age of 20 and has resided for a period or periods of at least 10 years in Jersey before reaching the age of 40;
• an individual who is not Jersey-born who arrived in Jersey before the age of 16 and who has resided for a continuous period of at least 10 years in Jersey;
• an individual granted Entitled status on social or economic grounds as being in the best interests of the community (previously Regulation 1(1)(k) of the regulations under the 1949 Housing Law); or
• an individual granted Entitled status on hardship grounds.

Licensed status

This applies to individuals who are accepted as being ‘essential employees’ for those local businesses which are able to satisfy the applicable criteria.

A Licensed individual can only rent or buy one property which must be occupied as his or her principal place of residence. They will lose the right to own or occupy property in Jersey as soon as the Licensed status is lost.

Entitled for Work status

This applies to an individual who does not have Entitled or Licensed status but who:

• has resided in the Island for a continuous period of five years immediately before applying for a registration card;
• is the spouse of a person with Entitled, Licensed or Entitled for Work status;
• was divorced less than five years ago from a person with Entitled, Licensed or Entitled for Work status and has resided in the Island since the divorce; or
• started work for an undertaking before attaining 16 years and has worked for that undertaking since attaining that age.

Registered status

Essentially unqualified status and applies to persons who do not fall into Entitled, Licensed or Entitled for Work categories.

The CHW Law registration card

Prior to buying or leasing property, an individual will need to show a valid and appropriate registration card to their lawyer or to the landlord. Minister. Certain registration cards need validation by the Population Office/Social Security before they can be used i.e. an Entitled individual who does not hold permanent Entitled Status will need to prove that they have remained in Jersey since the card was last validated.

A company still needs to obtain Ministerial consent to buy or rent property (save for a lease of non-residential property for more than nine years) and a fee is payable for the processing of the application.

Categories of Housing

Properties are classified as either Qualified or Registered.

Qualified units must be occupied by persons holding either Entitled or Licensed residential status whilst Registered units may be occupied by any individual.

Contacts

A full list of contacts can be found here.