Reef hotel.

The hotel rooms are currently being let to companies for their employees, pending the sale of the premises.

Environment permanent secretary John Barnes said it was unclear what the situation regarding the current use of the hotel was.

But he said an enforcement officer was looking into the issue and to his knowledge there had been no application for a change of use at the Harbour Road site.

He said it was possible that a hotel could be licensed only for residents of Bermuda, but if that wasn't the case then it would constitute a change of use.

Carol Wills, assistant director of Tourism, confirmed that Palm Reef did not have a hotel licence, and as such was out of the Tourism department's jurisdiction.

But she added that she believed they didn't require official permission for letting rooms on a monthly or long term basis.

The hotel closed last November.

At the time the owners blamed the requirement to install a fire sprinkler system as part of the Fire Safety Certificate as one of the main reasons for closure.

But co-owner Bridget Marshall said that requirement was not needed for renting rooms out.

Divisional Fire Officer Melvin Outerbridge said as far as they were concerned the hotel was officially closed.

They had not been consulted on any present use and would only become involved if the hotel owners had applied for a change of use to the planning department.

"Right now it is officially closed and we do not have the authority to go inside and carry out an inspection,'' he said.