Lauren (in the blue shirt) and Sarah (wearing black) share a three-bedroom house with Graham (not pictured, in case you hadn’t noticed) in Highbury (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

What I Rent is a weekly series that takes you around people’s rented properties.

Why? Because we’re nosy and love looking at how people live.

But more importantly, we’re on a mission to take a realistic look at the state of renting, especially in London.

There’s a lot of nonsense renters have to put up with – unreasonably high rents, massive deposits, dodgy landlords – and it’s difficult to know whether you’re dealing with standard stuff or you’re being ripped off.


We want to look at what people get for what they pay, and how they turn their rented spaces into homes.



This week we’re chatting to Lauren and Sarah, who share a three-bedroom house in Highbury with their third housemate, Graham.

They each pay around £780 a month (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Hi Lauren and Sarah! How much rent do you pay?

Lauren: All together we pay £2,300 a month for a three bedroom. Bills are about £100 each which isn’t bad.

Sarah: So that’s £780 each including bills.

And what do you get for what you pay?

Lauren: We have three bedrooms and one bathroom, one living room/kitchen area, plus a conservatory, a nice garden and a basement.

How did you end up living here?

Lauren: I’ve been here for two and a half years now. I found it after much searching and almost giving up all together. I live with my best friend, so it’s no problem for us. We know each other too well to fall out over house stuff. We met a guy on SpareRoom for the third bedroom and we all get on well.

Sarah: We found it through an estate agent. I knew Lauren from school and we met Graham via Spare Room – we have a great balance as we are all busy but then Sunday evening we will all stay in together and catch up on what we got up to over the weekend.

Lauren and Sarah are best friends who’ve known each other for years. They met Graham through SpareRoom (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Do you like the area?

Lauren: We live in lovely leafy Highbury Barn. I absolutely adore the area, the people are friendly and the shops are great and there are a tonne of amazing restaurants.

Sarah: I LOVE living here. The area is so quiet and green and a lovely neighbourhood feel with the Highbury Barn shops.

And are you happy with the house?

Lauren: Very happy, the house is great and definitely feels like a ‘home’. we’ve been able to add our own personal touches so it doesn’t feel like a student-esque shared house like I’ve lived in previously.

Do you feel like you have enough space?

Sarah: Yes.

Lauren: I do, though I recently forced myself to have a huge clear out to get rid of loads of clothes I don’t wear. It helps that we have a basement to store all the bulky stuff and keep the Babadook hidden. Plus we have the conservatory as a kind of second living room which comes in handy and having a garden is dreamy in summer.

The three housemates have made the place feel like home with photos, plants, and knick-knacks (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

How have you made the house feel like home?

Lauren: Lots of pictures, plants and soft furnishings.

Sarah: I did my room up and filled it with photos which makes me feel like it’s mine.



Are there any issues with the house you’re putting up with?

Lauren: The neighbours above seemingly wear bricks for slippers, but that’s about it. The house is lovely and we love our landlady, she’s always quick to fix anything.

Any plans to move again?

Lauren: Not at the moment, I like it here.

Sarah: Not planning to move any time soon, I don’t think we would ever get better than this wonderful place!

And what about buying a place?

Lauren: I put an offer in on somewhere last year, but it was Help to Buy and if the government stops that in a couple of years it’ll reduce property prices a lot. I could have ended up buying a 1 bedroom new build for 500k that’ll suddenly drop in value. It was too high risk.

Sarah: I am trying to save to hopefully buy at some point, but in no rush.

Shall we have a look around the house?

Here’s the living room (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

A strong DVD collection (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

The stairs you can spy lead down to the basement (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

The dining area sits opposite (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

And there’s the kitchen, too (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

A healthy spice rack (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

We’re fans of the tea towel (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Spot the cat (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

The basement works as a second living room (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

The bedrooms are back upstairs (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Here’s Lauren in her room (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

We like the artwork on the walls (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

And the plants, of course (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

We’re envious of anyone with a dressing table (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Major bonus points for this sign (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Now let’s look at Sarah’s room (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

Pretty, right? (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

And finally, the bathroom (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

All very standard (and clean) (Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Matthew Chattle/Metro.co.uk)

What I Rent is a weekly series that’s out every Tuesday at 10am. Check back next week to have a nose around another rented property in London.

How to get involved in What I Rent What I Rent is Metro.co.uk's weekly series that takes you inside the places people are renting, to give us all a better sense of what's normal and how much we should be paying. If you fancy taking part, please email whatirent@metro.co.uk. You'll need to have pictures taken of your kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, plus a few photos of you in your room. Make sure you get permission for your housemates! You'll also need to be okay with sharing how much you're paying for rent, as that's pretty important.

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