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
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Louise Thomas
Editor
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 .
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