From terrible landlords to sky-high prices, the London rental market is notoriously hellish.
It is still much more expensive to live in this country Big Smoke average rents According to Zoopla statistics It will reach £2,121 per month in April 2024.
Now the landlord of a single flat in central London is letting lower-income roommates choose their own rent, offering a 'pay what you can' deal.
Rupert Hunt, founder of the flat-sharing website SpareRoom, is looking for a new flatmate to join him at his home in Spitalfields, east London.
So what inspired Rupert to let potential roommates choose their own rental terms? When he started his business, the mantra was – and still is – that “life with the right people is better than life alone.”
Therefore, this is not the first time he has invited Londoners to his house for an amount lower than the market value, because over the years he has hosted as many as 14 tenants, aged from 21 to 51.
His ethos was that everyone paid only what they could afford. Some paid nothing at all, others on higher incomes were offered the full market rate for the area – which, according to statistics from BLG Development Finance and Online Marketing Surgery, reached an average of £2,196 in Tower Hamlets earlier this year.
This made the area the eighth most expensive area in London, with Kensington and Chelsea in first place with average monthly prices of £3,322, while Westminster came second with costs of £2,961.
So what does a given room offer? First of all, it's a bathroom, which is a complete rarity in London, where both tenants and owners are full and the population is as high as 11,615 per square mile.
What's more, in the newly renovated 300-year-old Georgian tenement house, your future roommate will have almost the entire floor to themselves.
It's not just the bedroom that has the wow factor, as shared spaces include a living room, cinema room, music room (complete with instruments), dining room and even a garden – another element that isn't always considered when renting in London.
Are you thinking about applying? Rupert is looking for a companion who loves cats (his feline friend Boo is the main tenant in the house), likes home-cooked meals and, most importantly, likes to play board games.
Most importantly, he wants to find a laid-back tenant who doesn't mind working from home.
“I'm doing this because my last roommates just moved out and I miss having them around. But rents have become so expensive that I really want to find someone who fits the house, not just someone who can afford the rent,” Rupert shares his ad.
“It's also an opportunity to encourage other people to think about doing the same.
“There are 26 million empty rooms in owner-occupied homes – encouraging more people to rent them would really help tackle the housing crisis. More rooms mean lower rents, which has to be a good thing.
Interested? You can apply to live with Rupert via the Spare Rooms List.
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