A series of ‘studio rooms’ that include a bed next to a shower and a washing machine nearby have been slated by a tenants union in Bristol.
The rooms, which are up for rent for around £550 a month, are above a shop in North Street, Bedminster.
Images of one of the rooms show it contains a single bed, very close to a shower in a perspex box on one side of the room.
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Along the far wall next to the shower is a window, beneath that there's a kitchen unit with sink and draining board and a fridge underneath, next to a bathroom washbasin and cabinet, on the other side of a washing machine. The other items of furniture in the room are a small table in front of a fireplace and a wardrobe.
Tenants living in the four rooms in the same building share access to a toilet, which is also shown in other pictures on the letting agency website.
The 'studio room' was advertised by a Bristol-based lettings agency last week, but has since been taken off-line after the backlash from tenants union ACORN Bristol. Acorn tweeted: “Isn’t it lovely being able to reach the fridge from the shower, and sit on the washing machine while brushing your teeth?? Rental standards in this country are a joke! We urgently need to up the game so cowboy letting agents and landlords can’t do this.”
“That’s why ACORN has teamed up with other organisations to form the Renters’ Reform Coalition and push for changes renters urgently need in order to live in the safe and secure housing we all deserve,” they added.
The images were not welcomed by some. One Twitter user, Ben Bloodworth, responded: “Thinking of sleeping in the kitchen on a camp bed tonight just to get a feel of what this abomination would actually be like to live in!!?” he tweeted. “Maybe suggest to the landlord to try that, it might just open their eyes to what a shambolic excuse for housing this is.”
Although the listing for the room wasn’t explicitly clear, it appears the room was in one of the maisonettes above a shop in a building that form the famous ‘Six Sisters’ of South Bristol - street art on a row of Victorian shop buildings that form the centrepiece of North Street’s Upfest street art.
The prominent location opposite North Street Green is in an area that has seen some of the steepest-rising rents in Bristol in recent years. Rather than rent the maisonette out as one property to a family or house-sharers, the landlord has created single ‘studio rooms’ with nothing but the toilet shared.
The letting agent involved is Balloon Lettings. Earlier this year Bristol Live featured the founder of Balloon, Ben Giles, as part of our Renters Crisis campaign. Mr Giles said he was trying to create an ethical lettings agency that would be different from others in the city.
He and the landlord declined to comment on ACORN Bristol’s criticism, but Bristol Live understands that the rooms and the property as a whole is fully compliant with HMO regulations, and also being let for around £200 a month less than comparable studio flats in the same area.
ACORN Bristol said legislation was needed to curb the excesses of the rental market.
“Letting agents love to call themselves ethical - it’s good advertising,” ACORN Bristol spokesperson Arvind Howarth told Bristol Live. “Then they’re happy to take money for box residences that are no more than prison cells. And sadly, this property will go, because the market is so broken it might be all someone can afford, or that’s available.
“We can’t depend on the self-imposed moral code of landlords and letting agents to ensure decent living conditions. ACORN is fighting tooth and nail for the guarantee of safe, secure housing for all - it’s crucial, it’s overdue and renters are still waiting,” she added.
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