Housing market • Rental
08 October 2025
The following image was taken on Robben Island, South Africa.
It is a cell in the former prison of the same name (closed at the end of the last century and since converted into a museum), where Nelson Mandela spent most of his nearly 30 years in captivity, which ended only in 1990.
The truth is that the only reason this photograph appears here is my desire to have a beautiful image that can represent a given reality, which, unfortunately, is anything but beautiful.
The remaining images in this article are not from South Africa, but from Portugal.
The remaining images in this article are not from the last century, but from 2025.
The remaining images in this article are not of prison cells, but of advertisements for rooms to rent.
Cell in the former Robben Island Prison, South Africa.
By Tasneem Jhetam.
In recent days, I decided to take a closer look at the “room rental” ads in Lisbon and other municipalities in the country on the Idealista portal.
And I discovered that, often, not only does it not seem that we are talking about what the law understands as urban residential rental, but we are also not talking about what common sense refers to as rooms.
What is at stake, in most cases, is securing “permission” (I was going to write “the right,” but it doesn't seem like the most appropriate expression) to occupy a bed in a room where, considering some of the images of the properties advertised on that portal, up to 7 or 8 people could sleep/live.
The apartments usually have a fully equipped kitchen, one or more bathrooms, and utilities included.
But the description is not always appealing: I found an ad describing a four-bedroom apartment with a maximum capacity of 16 people and only one bathroom.
First, by way of introduction, here is a short video recording of the first 30 ads for rooms to rent available on the portal on October 4 (out of a total of 2,852) in the municipality of Lisbon, sorted in ascending order of rent value.
The Lisbon scenario I have just described is replicated — albeit less obviously — in neighboring municipalities such as Amadora, Sintra, Odivelas, Oeiras, Almada, and Seixal.
But it also seems to be a reality in Porto, Matosinhos, and Vila Nova de Gaia, as well as in the municipalities of Albufeira and Lagos.
Although there are many doubts about whether these proposals comply with urban housing rental legislation and whether landlords pay taxes on the income they earn, we can ask ourselves: if there are people who cannot afford to pay more, is it a good thing that this type of offer exists?
Next door, in Spain, one of the startups of the moment — habitacion.com — has as its value proposition the commercialization of room ownership and co-ownership of the common/social spaces of a dwelling, apparently with the respective registration in the property's land registry certificate.
One thing is clear: these ads are evidence of how much the living conditions of so many people in Portugal have deteriorated.
Because we are increasingly being pressured to subdivide something that no one wants to share: our living space.
If you still have doubts, I suggest you look at the following images, read the captions, and access the ads.
And share them, because this is a reality that cannot be ignored by policy makers.
A room with four beds (in two bunk beds), wardrobes, and a refrigerator. Each spot is advertised at €270/month.
If you want to replicate my search on the Idealista portal, here are the steps.
On the portal's main page:
--> I chose Rent;
--> I selected Rooms;
--> I typed Lisbon and clicked on the County option (there is also a Province option).
When the list of room ads appeared:
--> I sorted the search by Lowest price.
Or use the following link:
https://www.idealista.pt/en/arrendar-quarto/lisboa/?ordem=precos-asc.
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