Londoner's twitter rant to highlight 'crippling mess' of capital's rental market

Rental madness: a flat with the shower in the 'kitchen'
www.gumtree.com
Tom Powell3 August 2016

A Londoner frustrated at the capital's squeezed rental market has taken to Twitter to share a series of horror stories about cramped flats.

Writer Daniel Ruiz Tizon, from Clapham, launched into a social media tirade in order to expose the “financially crippling mess” that private renting in London has become.

The first two tweets show tiny studio flats in Willesden, with bed, kitchen and toilet within inches of each other, the first costing £880pcm and the second £922pcm.

Other highlights include £950pcm for a flat in NW10, where the bed is in the kitchen.

Tizon, who has produced a weekly podcast since 2010 called 'Daniel Ruiz Tizon is available', told the Standard: “I’ve been renting privately for over four decades. I’ve lived in a bedsit, and shared a bathroom with 13 people til (my) mid-20s.

“I came from an immigrant community that lived in that way but it wasn’t widespread. It shocks me that way of living has now become widespread in London, a city obsessed with home ownership.

“I just want to make people aware of it.”

In the Twitter flat viewings, he also picked out a £795pcm place in Redbridge, where the shower’s see-through doors look out directly onto the kitchen.

Tizon joked: “Shower’s proximity to the kitchen might be a problem if you have visitors.”

Another, in Queens Park, Brent, features twin beds adjacent to a small dining table, fridge and microwave, for a monthly cost of £1155.

A studio flat in Baker Street, which apparently purports to be the 'cheapest studio ever', costs a cool £215 per week.

He also highlights a £260 per week flat in W11, with a single bed tucked in alongside the kitchen.

“If you’re not a homeowner or in social housing, you are screwed in #Ldn. You need £1300 a month to cover rent, bills and food. #housing crisis,” he posted.

Tizon, who released a book titled ‘Me! Me! Me!’ on Amazon in June, actually began promoting the worst of London’s overpriced housing on Twitter several years ago.

“I’m from the 70s and I don’t fear change. I just hate that change in South London always excludes the pre-existing communities,” he added.

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