You can rent this ‘Harry Potter’-esque closet room for £500 a month
High rent prices got you down? Sad because you just have too much wall space in your room to fill with printed Instagram photos? Never fear, there’s a place for you — and it makes Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs look positively spacious.
Twenty-three-year-old Alex Lomax was apartment-hunting when she stumbled across what seemed like a good listing — a “furnished” room for £500 (about US$758) in the Clapham district, in southwest London.
She was horrified, though, when she saw the actual room. Although it did include a bed, as promised, the twin bed took up pretty much the entire room, which was little more than a closet under the staircase.
Insulted, Alex took to social media to spread the word.
The post led to all the obvious jokes about the outrageous price of housing in London and plenty of Harry Potter references, but it’s still unclear if (or how) the landlord actually expected to find someone who would pay that much money to live in a space that can’t even be considered a room, except maybe by the Dursleys.
The listing for the room on london2let.com (understandably) doesn’t include any photos, but the description says:
“We are looking for a friendly, open-minded and outgoing person to join our houseshare in a great period house in Clapham. We’re a good bunch and like to chill out a lot together – not really looking for somebody that just wants to stay in their room. Room comes with a bed. Bills to be shared – approx. £60 per month each.”
Alex told Mashable that she had no clue that the room would be so small until the man showing her around the house opened the door.
“[He] said it was the ‘last room left to rent’ and that it was ideally placed for the kitchen (which is was right next to…!),” she said. “I left as quickly as I could and said it wasn’t right for me. Annoyed at myself to be honest as it’s disgusting he thought that’d be OK.”
The rest of the house, according to Alex, was “a nice enough place,” but she didn’t stay long enough to see all of it.
“They described [the house] as period, but because they showed me the room early on, I didn’t get to see much else of it,” she said.
The lesson we can all take away from this is that if you’re going to try to rent out a Privet Drive-style cupboard under the stairs, you have to be more strategic about it. Throw in a wand, add an owl cage and market it as a “Harry Potter replica room,” and you’re sure to have potential renters lined up around the block, instead of calling you out on Twitter.
[Image: Warner Bros.]
