Are letting adverts frequently misleading?

One tenant who thinks they are – in London at least – found that three-bedroom flats advertised on the likes of Rightmove and Zoopla in fact have two bedrooms.

To make a third bedroom, the sitting room would have to be converted.

And that, says Katie Morley who has been looking for somewhere with her two flatmates, is not acceptable.

“Most adults paying a big chunk of their salary on rent want a proper home – not one room to eat, sleep and socialise in. For that reason communal living space is essential – not optional,” she says.

She also points out that a two-bedroom flat may be unaffordable for two sharers.

In one example, she worked out that if three people were to move in (converting the lounge into a bedroom), they would pay £733 a month, or £8,796 a year, each.

But if two people moved in they’d pay £1,110.50p a month, or £13,326 a year. That means they would need to be earning £60,000 a year each.

Morley says that “thousands” of London homes are being misleadingly advertised as having three bedrooms when they have two, or four when they have three.

It’s commonplace, she says, and it’s a trend being propelled by landlords and agents.

She believes: “In this day and age it should be illegal to misleadingly advertise rental properties and encourage tenants paying market rent to go without a living room or a kitchen.

“Sneaky practices as demonstrated by these examples are masking London’s escalating housing crisis. When young professionals with good jobs are being cattle herded into box rooms in run-down hovels with no communal living space, there is something very wrong with the system.

“A clear minimum standard for renting must be enforced without delay.”

The story in the Telegraph is here