The difficulty of finding a room in Lisbon gives rise to offers in which accommodation is paid along with work. An advertisement in English posted at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon offers a room with electricity, water and internet for female students to care for two children. The ad does not mention any reward. To be entitled to a room, you must look after the children from 18:00, Monday to Saturday, at least every 15 days, according to Antena 1. The tenant will be required to collect the children from school by bus when their mother was unable to do so and helped them with homework and bathing, and cooked dinner. I will also have to clean the children’s bathroom, put away toys in the room and look after the babies at night.
The advertisement was posted (and then removed) on a panel under the responsibility of the student association, but escaped its attention, said Catarina Ruivo of the Lisbon Academic Federation. According to lawyer Luis Gonçalves da Silva, full payment in kind is illegal.