To think that what this person wants, is an au pair?

[ziggiestardust]

So I was scrolling through FB this morning and came across this on a local selling site. AIBU to think that this person is basically hoping for a flexible childcare solution they can charge rent to?

The advert says they’ll offer a reduction for occasional babysitting/school runs... but ethically, isn’t that a bit... woolly? I mean ‘occasionally’ could SO easily lapse into ‘twice a week’, and if your reduction in rent (which is £600pcm for a single room) depends on you being able to help out with childcare... honestly, I feel like this is verging on CF territory. Surely you shouldn’t be mixing the two areas of lodger/childcarer up? The way they’ve described the person becoming ‘part of the family’ is basically the description of an au pair? I think this could really take advantage of a young person studying/working over here because it potentially blurs the lines.

What do you think? Full disclosure, I have an au pair, so that’s why the ‘part of the family’ line really stuck out to me.

Yeah they want an au pair but don't want to pay her and actually want her to pay rent instead.

CF or dodgy as fuck. The words livestock spring to mind.

My relative ended up in an arrangement like this in her final year of her university course when she was desperate for somewhere to live to finish her course (very expensive part of the country). She liked the family (single mum plus her 6 year old) but it was an awful lot of work and she felt she couldn't say no to any requests, which she ended up doing multiple times a week. Child had mild special needs and was a little whirlwind of a thing. Plus she was still paying £500 pcm for rent. I didn't like it at all, I though her landlord was taking the absolute proverbial. When my relative gave her notice to move out, she actually had the cheek to ask if she could not stay a bit longer as she was relying on her and she was leaving her very stuck.

I had this arrangement when I was a young European girl living in Canada. Reduced rent in return for looking after her children every second weekend. It suited me very well at the time. (Not sure how it suited the children though - there was another lodger who looked after them the other second weekend and having a succession of carers moving on every few months can't have been that great for the kids in retrospect). As long as the expectations of amount of childcare required are clear at the time it seems fair enough.

I used to be a lodger with a similar arrangement. I was treated exactly like one of the family, I joined them for meals, and spent time with them in the evenings. Occasionally I’d babysit the kids whilst the parents went out, and get a rent reduction. I loved living there!