Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

London landlord charges £1 monthly rent, on the condition they work for his tech business

This kind of exchange is apparently part of a new trend emerging in Europe

Olivia Blair
Friday 16 October 2015 13:55 BST
Comments
Also included in the advertisement was free internet access and garden access
Also included in the advertisement was free internet access and garden access (Easy Roommate)

A landlord has advertised a room in his London house for £1 per month, on the condition they also work for his web app business.

The advert for a furnished “large clean double room” in Stratford, east London with internet access included was posted on the website Easy Roommate by business analyst, Adam Mughal.

However, the remarkably low ‘£1pcm’ rent charge applies as long as the tenant meets the criteria of: “web/mobile developer graduate student”.

Mr Mughal, 32, told the Evening Standard: “I don’t have the resources or the budget to hire a full-time web developer but this opportunity allows someone to stay in London where accommodation isn’t cheap and work for me part-time.”

More than 1,200 applicants have reportedly registered their interest in the advert, which was posted two weeks ago.

According to Albin Serviant, the CEO of Easy Roommate, exchanging accommodation for a service or work is not uncommon and is emerging as a new trend in Europe.

He said: “We are starting to see a new trend, on a global scale where landlords list their room(s) in exchange of services or skills they need. Although France leads the way with 3 per cent of our content being impacted, this trend is starting to pick up in the UK.”

“Living in London is only getting more and more expensive, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rising trend of those type of ads published on our website over the next few years.”

The average price of renting a double room in London is £692 per month, according to Easy Roommate .

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in