Couple post £1.2k spare room advert with bizarre catch

The pair are offering a room inside their city home for £1,200 a month

A couple have been shamed online after they posted an advert for a lodger. The pair stipulated that the room they are offering is worth £1,300 a month but that they are offering it for £1,200 plus bills.

This is in part due to a bizarre catch they have described in an advert in a Facebook group. The couple have asked that their lodger spend three or four nights each month away from the address so that they can have some alone time.

Comments on the post quickly shamed the couple who reportedly went on to delete it. The start of the advert sounded positive, with the “bright” double bedroom situated in a “beautiful” London flat located just a few minutes' walk from a number of tube stations.

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The couple said: “The apartment has lots of dining and relaxing space, and loads of built-in storage and desk space in the room. The high ceiling two bedroom apartment has separate bathroom, kitchen, dining and living rooms, and then Alex & Madi's room.”

It added: “We live a mostly quiet, chilled lifestyle but do go out with friends quite a lot. We are not really in a party phase right now, and would prefer someone who also enjoys chill time whilst at home. Would be great to be friends with our new roommate, not just roommates!”

They went on: “The room would normally rent for £1,300, although we are offering a reduced rent of £1,200+ bills, as we are hoping to find someone who has a partner or family nearby that they can spend the night with occasionally, and offer us the apartment for 3-4 separate nights each month to relax on our own. They would of course get the same back when we are away!”

The advert was shared on Reddit with the caption: “Please Rent Our Spare Room, Just Don't Live In It - £1,200! This kind of s*** needs to be outlawed." One person said that they saw the original post on Facebook, The Mirror reports.

They wrote: “lol I’m on this Facebook group, they were shamed so hard and deleted the post. They reposted on SpareRoom and left out all the very key details some some poor sod is going to be stuck with them.”

Another person said: “I’ve lived with flatmates like this and it sucked. Became really apparent really quickly that they didn’t want a flatmate, but just couldn’t actually afford rent on a two bedroom flat. Who wants to pay £1200 to feel like an intrusive houseguest, lol?”

A third added: “Paying 1200 and still expected to stay at mum and dads half a week every month. More importantly would be living with someone knowing they don't want you there.. that much. These two are unhinged clowns.”

"It's not even a good deal if you accept the premise ‘3-4 nights a month’ is 10% of nights, but they're only offering a 8% discount," they said. "And it’s not even a discount. They slyly changed from a fixed 1300 to 1200 + bills."

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