
From a shed in the middle of a living room and a tent in the corner of a house to a room under the stairs and a bed over the sink, Britain has seen some of the most ridiculous living spaces placed on the rental market this year.

While soaring house prices have driven up rental costs across the country, particularly in London, landlords have come up with ingenious but often downright outrageous 'rooms' to let to prospective tenants.

In one case, a landlord put a mattress inside a wooden shack in the corner of his living room before trying to rent it out for £530 a month.

Joe Peduzzi, 22, from the Isle of Wight, said he 'couldn't believe what he was seeing' after viewing the outlandish set-up in Bethnal Green, east London, and said there was 'no chance' he would be taking the landlord up on his offer.

Meanwhile, another homeowner decided to make a bit of extra cash by marketing a spare corner of his dining room in Gipsy Hill, South London – by erecting a crumpled tent and advertising it as £550 a month with 'access to a shared bathroom and kitchen'.

Elsewhere, there have been numerous instances this year of landlords trying to market tiny cupboards under the stairs as a bedroom.

Drawing comparisons to Harry Potter's existence at Privet Drive in JK Rowling's epic novels, the rooms barely feature more than a squashed mattress in a confined space.

Other rooms to be marketed are slightly bigger and claim to be 'fully contained' – but only because they feature the bed crammed into a small space with a kitchenette, dining area and shower directly adjacent.

Matt Hutchinson, of SpareRoom, said soaring rents had forced people into being creative, and 'trying to rent out spaces they shouldn't.'

From a shed in the middle of a living room to rooms under the stairs, Britain has seen some of the most ridiculous living spaces placed on the rental market this year. One of them is this ad offering a tent in a dining room in Gipsy Hill, south London, for £550 a month plus bills

The Gipsy Hill 'room' is described as 'fully furnished' with a chair and sleeping bag and offers access to a shared bathroom and kitchen

Horrified Joe Peduzzi, 22, turned up for a viewing at a flat in Bethnal Green, east London, only to find the 'room to let' was in fact a £530-a-month mattress inside a wooden shack (circled in the picture) which was situated in the middle of the property's main living room

Joe Peduzzi, 22 (right), from the Isle of Wight, said he 'couldn't believe what he was seeing' after viewing the outlandish set-up in Bethnal Green, east London. The kitchen of the property, which is to be shared with three other housemates living in the house, is pictured left

This £40-a-week space in Paddington, west London, may not be spacious but it works perfectly for people with few possessions

The biggest problem with the cramped Paddington space is the entrance involves climbing up to the cupboard door, or 'front door'

Alex Lomax couldn't believe it when she was shown this room which was nothing more than a mattress on the floor of a cloakroom under the stairs. The room in Clapham, south west London, had been advertised as a single furnished room in a house share, for £500 a month

Another cupboard room under the stairs was listed on Gumtree for rent in Islington, London, this year with tenants asked for £925 a month

The room was described as being located on the 1st floor of a typical fancy Victorian style house, just 5-7 minutes walk from either Angel or Highbury & Islington tube. It was rented for more than £900 a month and showed a makeshift bed, small bedside table and sliding door

At least the bed is big! A pokey attic with a slanted roof and just a mattress in Paddington, London, is available to rent for £160 a month

This single bed, in a cramped space under a staircase, is situated within a shared house in the Gorton area of Manchester and has been advertised on SpareRoom for £380 per month, plus £100 deposit. The Tenant will have to share a bathroom, kitchen, lounge and a garden

This flat costs £780 a month in the exclusive west London enclave of Chelsea. It has two hobs and the kitchen and bed almost touch

The tenant of this flat in Hammersmith, west London, would only have to take two steps to the hob - for the princely sum of £563 a month

Numbering at least six steps, the occupant of this £607-a-month flat in Harringey, north London, wouldn't face a long walk to the fridge

Now that's cosy: With a shower crammed in next to the kitchen sink, this studio flat in west Kensington was advertised for £80-per-week

At least you won't get cold feet: This bathroom comes carpeted with a boiler directly above the sink in and a slightly out of place toilet