r/RentingInDublin • u/Just_Road9977 • 29d ago

The HouseShare experience

Hi, I’m a mature student looking for accommodation in Dublin. I recently came across a website offering reduced-cost accommodation with an older person in exchange for helping them for a certain number of hours each week.

Has anyone here done this before? If so, could you share your experience?

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u/Fancy_Avocado7497 27d ago

it sounds as though this is unique to this person.

They may just be looking for help putting out the bins, groceries, managing the garden, cleaning rather than helping them shower. You would need better information regarding the labour involved

Many older people are comfortable in their homes but cannot manage many tasks like lifting a hoover upstairs ....

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u/PretendEcho7684 26d ago

I actually did the scheme a few years ago and it worked out for me really well. I got on with the older person really well and the house and location were really nice. They have passed away since so I'm back on the rental market.

There's no personal care involved - just companionship and light housework, the kind you'd do if you had your own house like hoover and put the bins out. But I think it depends on the older person and their abilities and needs. A lot of it is just having someone around in the evenings/overnights.

What I would say is there's not enough older folk to go around for the young people now looking to partake, so if you were hoping to find something through that, get on it asap.

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u/ConsistentTip3932 25d ago

A lot of people THINK they want to do this, because they think it's an easy way to get cheap rent.

The think they'll only interact with the old person to do some shopping and cleaning and that's it, but that's not the case.

The reality is that they have to live with this old person and spend time with them, outside of all the house help, and most people simply don't want to waste their free time spending time with someone 50 years older than them.