Tiny London studio flat taken off market by council

A tiny studio flat that was being offered for rent for £737 per month in north London has been removed after pressure from Islington Council.

A picture of the room, which features a bed, wardrobe, kitchen units and a sink, was posted on social media as an example of the London housing market.

A spokesman said earlier this week that the council would be investigating whether the apartment was fit to rent.

Inspectors have now decided it cannot be marketed in its current state.

Cllr James Murray, Islington Council's executive member for housing, told Newsbeat: "This place is a shoebox, not a flat, so we're serving a prohibition order to stop it being rented out again.

Kember Street is in north London, situated less than a mile from Kings Cross and St Pancras railway stations

"We are also urgently inspecting the other flats in this block to see if they are flouting the rules too.

"It shows how grim London's housing crisis has become when tenants can be exploited like this - and yet down the road, new properties are being snapped up by investors and often sitting empty."

The flat was described as a "modern studio apartment" but Murray said it was not possible to open the door of the cupboard under the sink because the bed was in the way.

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On Wednesday, the landlord of the flat Andrew Panayi told the Guardian: "The property does have planning. It's been checked several times by the environmental health and the planning department. We have not subdivided units."

He blamed his estate agent, Relocate Me, for not choosing a photograph that did "justice" to the flat.

A studio flat next door doesn't have a bed pictured but shares a similar layout, according to letting agents

"They didn't photograph the bathroom or the [communal] roof terrace," he said.

They also failed to mention the fact that central heating, internet and unlimited hot water were included in the price, he added.

A request for a formal statement from Relocate Me has yet to be returned.

According to Islington Borough Council the apartment was originally given planning permission to be used as student accommodation.

Cllr Murray suggested the rooms, which had once been solely used as bedrooms, had been re-purposed as self-contained studio flats.

The balcony outside the studio flats in Islington, north London

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the government that increasing house prices pose a threat to the UK's economic recovery.

Many commentators have warned of a London "housing bubble".

In London, prices rose by 17% in the last year. In north-west England, they were up by 3.1%.

They say this has had a knock-on effect on the London rental market, with average prices also rising.

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