In Bergen there are those who are looking for someone willing to stay nine nights in exchange for small favors, such as feeding the cat and keeping the house tidy, while in Notodden the offer rises to thirty-three nights, a lake across the street and a labrador to take for a walk. The mechanism is called house sitting, and in Norway, a country where the average rent in Oslo easily exceeds 1,500 euros a month, it is becoming one of the most concrete ways to stay without paying a cent for accommodation. The way it works is as simple as the exchange that regulates it: anyone who owns a house and needs to be away, whether for work, holiday or family reasons, is looking for someone to keep an eye on the house and take care of the animals. In exchange, the caretaker receives free accommodation, since the agreement is based on mutual trust between owner and guest, not money.
Where to find ads
The most structured platform in the sector is TrustedHousesitters, which allows you to browse available jobs in Norway. The ads cover the entire country, from Oslo to Tromsø, via Bergen, Troms and Trondheim, with stays ranging from a few days to several weeks. The registration mechanism requires an annual membership, a profile with clear photos, previous experience and references, which do not necessarily have to come from previous house sits. If you want to compare multiple sources at once, you can go to HouseSitSearch, a free search engine that aggregates Norwegian ads from five different platforms, including the aforementioned TrustedHousesitters, Nomador and MindMyHouse, allowing you to filter by dates, type of animal and length of stay. The service is supported by affiliate links, openly declared on the site.
What this means in practice
The tasks required remain the same as always: daily walks, punctual meals, cuddles and, above all, a house left in order. Norwegian owners, according to what the platforms themselves report, are looking for people truly motivated by love for animals, not by economic gain, because the only good exchanged between sitters and pet parents is trust.
A detail that few consider
There is one aspect you should find out about before leaving, namely the tourist visa. For non-EU/EEA citizens who do not benefit from an exemption, the stay in Norway is bound to the standard Schengen rules: the UDI, the Norwegian Immigration Agency, specifies that people who want to visit the country for a maximum of 90 days must apply for a tourist visa, valid throughout the Schengen area. The same body also specifies that a Schengen visa can never exceed 90 days, regardless of the applicant’s situation. House sitting generally falls within the scope of tourist stays precisely because it does not provide financial compensation, but those who plan prolonged stops or repeated activities would do well to keep track of the dates and keep clear documentation on their movements, so as not to run into disputes at the border.
