Katie Glass, a professional with a £2,000 monthly budget for a London flat, describes the rental market as a hellscape. She notes that the average Londoner earns £49,000, and 63% of those in their early twenties still live with parents. Glass planned to fund her return to London by renting out her five-bedroom Somerset cottage.
Unliveable Hovels for £2,000
For £2,000 a month, Rightmove listings include kitchens with beds masquerading as studio flats. One listing shows a single bed parallel to kitchen counters with a freezer at the end. Glass coins the term 'bed-chin' for these kitchen-bedrooms, where grease can spurt onto pillows and curry smells linger under the duvet.
Other spectacles include bedrooms with toilets, kitchens with showers, and mezzanine apartments where beds buffer the ceiling. A £1,600 studio has a flip-down bed that must be folded away by day. A 'self-contained studio' resembles a prison cell with window bars and a metal sink.
Rising Rents and Fraudsters
Many listings are in Zones 1 and 2, but Glass considers Zone 5 for liveable spaces. Average rents in some boroughs rise by almost 5% a year, and ONS figures show tenants spend 42% of income on rent. A Generation Rent report reveals Londoners spend five months of salary on housing, meaning all earnings until June 2 go to the landlord.
The Renters' Reform bill, effective May 1, has caused small landlords to leave the market, reducing available flats. Some tenants have been caught by fraudsters demanding holding deposits for flats that are already gone.
Glass recalls her first London flat costing hundreds, and a squat with eight people. Now, earning £50,000 after tax and spending £2,000 on rent means half the salary goes to housing. She notes Sadiq Khan promised rent-controlled homes for key workers capped at 40% of salaries, but asks about the rest of Londoners.
