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A woman is offering a free room in her London home on just one condition - and it's extremely unusual.

Elena Valdameri's house in Grove Park in south east London comes with a large garden, an outdoor patio, and a menagerie of elderly rescue animals.

The 52-year-old actress, who is going through a divorce, shares the property with two large dogs, and six cats between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.

What Elena wants from her new lodger is a promise to cuddle her cats.

She also asks for a £60 contribution towards bills, and a promise to help out with the cleaning and taking care of the animals if she's out for the day.

The devoted animal lover, who moved to the UK from Italy in 2013 bringing nine dogs and five cats with her, posted an advert an advert on SpareRoom saying she would ideally like to find a female housemate, who is also a vegetarian or vegan.

Elena, who is a vegan herself, said: "I love animals and I just want someone in the house that's a nice person, I want a home, I don't want a hotel.

"I don't want someone who is locked in their room all the time, that's not what I want, especially for my cats and dogs.

"They have to be a very nice person that really likes animals, or I'd rather be on my own."

(Image: Spareroom)

Elena's pets include Rottweiler Tera, who is around eight or nine years old and was rescued from Seville in Spain, and a Great Pyrenean Mastiff called Manolo who will be 13 in March.

She also has five of her own cats; Teresa, Lola, Dolce, Gabbana, and Grigia, who are all in their teens, and is currently fostering a sixth cat, Stormy, after his owner was involved in an accident.

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Elena said the opportunity to move into the house has come up because the friend who currently lives with her has developed an unfortunate allergy to cats.

She said: "She's packing right now but she's going to be round the corner.

"It's very expensive to keep a house all by myself, and I need a little help with the animals and the cleaning.

"I work as an extra in commercials and when I'm gone for 15 hours I need somebody to feed my dogs.

"It's not much work, it's just keeping an eye on them, cuddling them, letting them outside."

However, anyone who wants to move into the room will have to be quick, as Elena said she's already had a lot of interest from thrifty animal lovers.