London Flat Hits the Market for Just £160K… But There’s a Huge Catch
A grimy London flat that is smaller than a parking space is being flogged for more than £160,000 – and buyers will have to pay in cash. The tiny room is covered in grime – with rubbish littering the filthy floor. It features a small toilet and shower.
But home-seekers willing to fork out the top-end price tag will own the flat for just 58 years when the lease runs out. For the same cost, you could buy a modern eight-bed house in Stockton-On-Tees, County Durham, or a 12-bedroom bed and breakfast in seaside hotspot Blackpool – which comes complete with its own bar.
Located in plush Kensington, the flat is within walking distance from Chelsea’s exclusive Kings Road.
Properties alongside the flat have an average house price of £1,153,000 – with full Chelsea townhouses in the same area fetching more than £32,000,000. Among their neighbours, new buyers will count global icons including Mick Jagger, Elton John and the Beckhams.
Local estate agents May&Co, who are marketing the rooms, called it: ‘A small bedsit type studio flat in need of complete modernisation throughout, offered with a 58-year lease and vacant possession. Located on the first floor at the back of the building, this flat is very quiet and is accessed via Fawcett Street. Cash buyers only. Offers in excess of £160,000.’
At just 11.7 square metres, the room is just two-thirds of the size of a disabled parking space and less than the size of a chess board larger than the minimum for a regular space. Located at the back of a large Kensington townhouse, the flat appears to be on the top floor.
It consists of a tiny main room, a doorway and a bathroom – which is smaller than a Portaloo.
It is sold in ‘vacant possession’, which means it must be handed over in a state where the buyer cannot be prevented from moving in. Currently, part of the flat features a red carpet that is barely visible through a thick layer of caking mud, while the brown walls are also covered in dirt.
With two large windows, the only furniture is a tired-looking lampshade, two rickety blinds and a set of five shelves – one of which is broken. Conor O’Shea, the Policy and Public Affairs Manager of affordable housing charity Generation Rent blasted the property as a spectacle of London’s property crisis.
He said: ‘This flat and many others like it indicate the difficulties faced by renters and buyers alike in this market. Rents are as unaffordable as they have been in many years, underpinned by a lack of supply of homes across the country.’
