Building Caretaker Rights and Employer Obligations

Employing a building caretaker (apartman görevlisi, often called kapıcı) is the area of building management that carries the most legal risk. A dismissal handled badly comes back to the building as severance, notice pay and legal costs.

Who is the employer?

The employer of the caretaker is the owners’ assembly. The manager acts as the employer’s representative. That distinction matters: the obligations under the employment contract rest on the owners, not on the manager, and the cost of any award falls on the building.

The caretaker’s basic rights

• Wages: cannot be below the statutory minimum wage; paid against a payslip
• Social security: declared in full for the days worked
• Housing: where accommodation is provided, the heating, water and lighting costs fall on the employer (the building), and no rent may be charged to the caretaker
• Annual leave: granted according to length of service under the Labour Law
• Weekly rest and public holidays: statutory entitlements
• Severance and notice pay: arising according to how the contract ends

The job description should be in writing

The Residential Caretakers Regulation contemplates that the caretaker’s duties be defined. Setting out cleaning, refuse collection, operating the boiler and garden care in a written job description protects both the caretaker and the building. Imposing work outside the description, or work in it not being done, is a source of dispute on both sides.

The real cost to the building

The most common budgeting mistake is to count only the net wage. The true cost of a caretaker to a building includes:

• Gross salary
• Employer’s social security and unemployment insurance contributions
• Where housing is provided, its heating, water and electricity
• Provision for annual leave
• Provision for severance and notice pay arising on departure

In the buildings we manage, every one of these appears as a separate line in the annual budget, and we recommend setting aside a provision for severance. That way the building is not caught out when the caretaker eventually leaves.