Bulwer Street Studio Has Bed on Top of Chest of Drawers
Tiny flat available for just under £1,000 a month
Irene Steven's family had to wear cleanroom suits to deal with the mess
A “sunny studio flat” with “lots of storage” is available in Shepherds Bush for £999 a month but the bed’s right above a chest of drawers. The layout of the property may not be typical – but some could argue it’s a bargain.
The average property in Shepherds Bush costs over £2,205 to rent and £918,000 to buy, according to estate agents Foxtons. Studios can be bought for £298,000 and rented for £1,400 on average.
An advert for the flat on OpenRent says, “There is plenty of storage space under the bed.” It comes with a bathroom and is furnished with a “low platform bed with stairs”, chest of drawers, wardrobe, dining table and chairs.
The advert also says the property is a five-minute walk from Shepherd’s Bush Tube, Westfield shopping centre and a Lidl. It adds that all bills are included in the monthly fee and the flat is only open to one tenant.
Photos show a mattress on a wooden platform above a chest of drawers with a fridge, small dining table and chairs next to it. The property is located inside a Victorian building in Bulwer Street, W12. The listing says pets aren’t allowed and the flat is available from 1 July .
Around 3,000 people are on the waiting list for council housing in Hammersmith and Fulham, where the flat is based. The Labour-led local authority was ranked the worst in the country at dealing with damp and mouldy homes between April 2019 and March 2021 in a Housing Ombudsman report released in October.
Freddie Poser, director of PricedOut – a campaign for more affordable housing in the UK – said, “Conversions like this are a symptom of an ever-worsening housing shortage. Living conditions like this are the inevitable result of failing to build enough homes for 30 years. If we want to see people live in nicer, safer, larger homes then expanding supply is the only option.”
A spokesperson for Hammersmith and Fulham council said the authority is taking action against unsafe and illegal property adverts in the area. They added, “We are already investigating many similar properties across the borough and will look at this one. H&F’s powers have enabled us to negotiate their voluntary closure by the landlord or, in some cases, enforce a shutdown of the accommodation by serving a prohibition order.
“We have a wide-ranging licensing scheme for this type of accommodation so we would encourage people to alert us so we can investigate where necessary and take appropriate action. At a time of acute housing shortage such incidents are on the rise and we will do all we can to protect the rights of tenants and ensure landlords provide proper accommodation that is genuinely fit for habitation.”
The council says it is investing £600 million in revamping and fixing its housing stock over the next 12 years. The landlord and OpenRent were contacted for comment.
Hannah Neary - Local Democracy Reporter
June 27, 2022