Fitter room

A fitter's room is a room in a private house or in a commercial guest house that is given to one or more tenants for a longer period of time (weeks or months). As a rule, these tenants are employees of companies who work so far away from their place of residence that they cannot drive home during the week and often also at the weekend.

With the opening of the European labor markets, many construction workers from Eastern European countries use fitter rooms in Germany.

The name is derived from the original main use by fitters . Fitter rooms exist in workers' dormitories.

Facility

Fitter rooms are usually rather spartan. There are no set standards. The equipment varies from provider to provider. Most of the time, there is a kitchenette with a refrigerator in the room, and TVs are usually in the rooms. Depending on the equipment, there is a bathroom for several rooms, but more and more rooms with a private bathroom are also available.

Related terms

It is difficult to clearly distinguish the term from other overnight accommodations. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association does not list the fitter's room under the operating modes of its members. Compared to an apartment in an apartment hotel or a boarding house , the fitter's room is more of a simple variant of the overnight option.

Brokerage and rental

Many companies rely on professional intermediaries when looking for fitter rooms for their employees. These offer the advantage of also recording rooms with private landlords. Some agencies also organize translators and driving services on request.

legal framework

Fitter rooms are permitted in normal residential buildings under certain conditions. However, there is no nationwide uniform regulation. Several administrative and higher administrative courts decided that the following criteria are a prerequisite for recognition as normal living space: The rental must last at least two, sometimes three months. There may be no additional services in the house, such as meals, reception that is always available or cleaning during the rental period. Second or holiday homes are clearly also apartments, so they do not require any additional building permit in order to rent them out as a fitter's room.

costs

Compared to hotels or apartment hotels, renting a room for workers is usually much cheaper. Fitters or construction workers are often housed in shared rooms.