London’s rent crisis is so bad some renters are paying by working as domestic servants

To afford a home, Lundström had to do something else — trade her time by working as a domestic helper. She moved in with a woman in south-west London and earns her keep by doing 15 hours of gardening and cleaning for her a week. 

“I couldn’t live in London without this,” said Lundström, who added that worrying about paying rent is now “a big stress that I don’t have to deal with.”

Lundström is one of a growing number of people who are pushed to barter their labor in return for a place to stay. She used an agency called Share and Care to find her home. Although she pays no rent, Lundström pays an ongoing £150 a month fee to the agency, which says it has seen a 50% increase in applications in the past few months.  

“It’s quite depressing to think about how desperate people are: they’re saying they just can’t find anywhere to live,” said Amanda Clarke, co-founder of Share and Care.

Clarke originally created the company to cater for younger people who couldn’t afford rent and older people who needed help around the home, but found that there was huge demand from people of all ages. She has since launched a second company called Helpful Housemates, which matches homeowners of all ages with lodgers who pay a small amount of rent as well as contributing five hours of work a week. 

The demand from cash-strapped potential lodgers has been huge, says Clarke. One day last week, she posted an ad for a room in north London in the late afternoon and by the next morning had received “hundreds” of applications. The current increase in demand is “very, very marked: you can’t not notice it,” she says. 

Clarke said that potential lodgers say that surging inflation is a major reason they are looking for alternative ways to live, particularly in London, where typical rents are up 18% year-on-year, according to SpareRoom. Renters are facing increased costs elsewhere too, with consumer prices rising 10.1% in the 12 months to September.

Even people in their 70s are requesting rent discounts in exchange for work, according to Andrea Frankenthal, founder of Hapipod, another company that matches homeowners and potential lodgers. She said her platform has had an estimated 30% increase in enquiries from potential lodgers in the past six months. 

“There are social workers and people in the NHS who just can’t make ends meet, and certainly can’t afford the rents that are being asked for at the moment,” she said. 

Under her program, lodgers pay up to £350 a month to rent a room in London, or £250 elsewhere, sometimes with an additional £50 on top for bills. They must also contribute eight hours of work a week to the household, which could include laundry, cooking, shopping or light cleaning.

The company makes money by offering a “connection package,” where you can sign up for £45 a month for their website to view potential housemate matches, plus a £20 registration fee. 

With bills rising, renting out a spare room is also welcome income for some homeowners. Jane McNamara, a 51-year-old English teacher, rents her spare bedroom in her flat in north London to a 31-year-old master’s student in return for £350 and 32 hours of work a month.

Her tenant walks her dog, feeds her cats when she’s out, and looks after her 13-year-old daughter when she goes out. She also helps with cleaning the kitchen and floors. 

“It’s very difficult to make ends meet at the minute and it’s so helpful to have a bit of extra cash,” said McNamara.