What I Rent: Lisa, £408 a month for a room in Stamford Hill

Welcome to What I Rent, a weekly series where we take you inside someone’s house.

We all know that the current housing situation is a hellscape of mouldy walls, paying £1,000 to live in a box room with a fold-out bed, and the slow acceptance that you may never be able to buy your own home.

When you’re looking through endless awful listings and hearing of your mates finding sweet deals in areas that are now beyond expensive, it’s easy to lose sense of what’s normal.

How much should you be paying for a room in London? What should you be getting for your money? What’s normal?

In an attempt to help us all have a better grasp of how the f*** to find a decent place to live that doesn’t cost 70% of our paycheck, we’re going to be showing you a different Londoner’s dwellings each Tuesday.

First up, Lisa, a 31-year-old journalist.

Okay, juicy details first. How much are you paying?

Lisa: I pay £408 a month (it just went up by £8, so sad) for rent, plus £77 a month for bills into a house kitty. This covers all bills and any mishaps throughout the year like replacing a sofa or treating ourselves to some plants which has never happened.

Then we do £5 a month into kitty for loo roll and household items.

And what are you paying for?

There are six bedrooms, one bathroom, one upstairs loo, a lounge, a kitchen, and a pretty big garden.

Where is your house? 

In Stamford Hill. It’s about a three minute walk from Stamford Hill overground station, and 15 minutes from Seven Sisters.

How long have you been there?

I’ve lived there for just over a year and a half.

What do you like about the place?

I like the size of my room – when I first moved into the house I was staying in the £250 a month room which had a single bed and was the size of three single beds, but I didn’t have much stuff so it was surprisingly roomy. Super cosy and got loads of light.

I was just happy to have a room I could call my own after sleeping on my friend’s sofa for weeks.

How did you end up living there?

I found it on a Facebook housing group.

I was at the end of my tether. I’d just moved back from a couple of years overseas and it was the first time I was searching for a house without friends in London.

Going to view houses of strangers is a weird experience. You meet them for like 15 minutes and then decide if you want to live with them. It’s bizarre.

I’d been dicked around so much by other people (we’re talking people offering me a viewing and then not answering their door when I arrived, people arranging a viewing and then picking someone before I’d even got there, but failing to tell me until I got in touch to confirm the address an hour before, people failing to say in their listing that the room was actually a cupboard in a warehouse with no windows and a smell that hinted that the previous tenant had suffocated in there and hadn’t been removed yet). It inspired me to write this.

I was so desperate for a room by this point that I looked around the house, had a LOL with a few of the housemates and told them I wanted in, with zero chill.

That was my second viewing of the night and my third viewing was with two super lovely girls in a flat, but the kind who wanted to eat dinner together every evening and talk about boys over red wine. That’s not really my vibe so I was kind of dismayed when they were keen for me to move in, and I didn’t really have an excuse not to.

Luckily as I was texting my friend on the bus back to his asking what I should do, my current housemates offered me the room and the rest is history. Never felt so relieved.

Are there any major issues with the house? Are you happy with where you’re living?

The house is old and falling apart and a bit gross but it’s fine for the rent.

The carpet is all shades of hideous and ruins the pastel aesthetic I’d like in my room but the landlady doesn’t seem like she’ll change it until it walks itself out of the house.

The bathroom is kinda gross and I’d never sit in the bath. But I’m freelance and I would rather sacrifice a bit of niceness for financial security. I moved in when I didn’t have secure work so it was perfect.

It blows my mind that people just shrug their shoulders and pay £100s more in rent than I do. I’ve always had fairly affordable rent but my dad still thinks my rent is expensive. It’s definitely a lot more than I was paying when I was at uni in Newcastle – you could get rent for £30/week there for a room, in the cheapest area…! That was twelve years ago though.

The house gets dirty quick as there’s so many of us but we have a cleaner although we haven’t had once for months since our last one quit. We all have such varied schedules that it’s hard for someone to be in when the cleaner comes.

This is the most people I’ve ever lived with but as none of us do Mon-Fri 9-5 jobs, we’re all over the place so it never feels like the house is crowded, even when partners are around.

And I’ve never had an issue with waiting for the bathroom, but that might be because it’s mostly guys living here.

Our bathroom doesn’t have a lock and the door doesn’t shut properly but it’s fine, there’s a shower curtain. Although both bulbs have gone and we can’t get the lids off the lights so if you want a shower after dark you either need to take in a candle or do it with the door open.

The landlady comes round once a month to get rent which is a bit annoying as she’ll moan about stuff, and recently has been threatening to turn our lounge into a seventh bedroom.

I know she won’t though as underneath the landlord exterior, she is actually lovely.

Although it’s annoying when something goes wrong and she sends round one of her mates who definitely isn’t qualified. ‘Your boiler’s making funny noises? I’ll send my friend round who’s a plumber, that’s the same thing, right?’

Have you got any plans to move out?

I think I’d only move out if I was moving in with friends, as finding a room is a truly soul-destroying experience. Honest to God, the last time nearly broke me.

I didn’t even tell some of my friends I was back in London as if I wasn’t at work, I was sat in my friend’s bed on Spare Room. My life revolved around house viewings/cancellations. It was horrible.

I’d come back from my time away all excited and happy and moved into my new house a shell of my former self. RIP me.

If I did move out in London, it would have to have a garden or outside space. That’s so important to me. The city makes me feel trapped and I need a private space I can bask in the sunshine and read my book.

And, um, have you ever thought about buying a place?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

We think that’s a no. Anyway, let’s have a nosy around Lisa’s place. 

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