Harriet and Hannah share a three-bedroom flat with two other housemates (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Housesharing is basically an essential part of being a millennial living in London.

If you choose to live in the city and don’t happen to have wildly wealthy parents, you’ll need to shack up with some pals (or strangers) to afford a place to live.

The tricky bit is knowing whether you’re getting a good deal or being massively ripped off.

It doesn’t help when you talk to people outside of London who berate you for chucking your money away when you could be living somewhere else for a third of the cost.


To get some more clarity on renting in London, without the judgmental ‘just move North’ line, we launched What I Rent, a series that takes you inside the rented property of a different person each week.



This week we’re chatting to Harriet and Hannah, both 23, who share a three-bedroom flat in St Paul’s with two other housemates, Jack, 23, and Joe, 24.

They pay £850 each a month (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Hey Harriet! How much do you pay to live here?

I pay £850 per month, and approximately £50 a month in bills.

And what do you get for what you pay?

Three bedrooms, one master bathroom, and one en-suite, plus a living room and a kitchen and dining area.

How did you end up living here?

We all went to Loughborough University together. We went through months of extensive searching – but it was all worth it.

Are you happy where you live?

Yes, very! The best thing is probably the location – it’s so lovely that we can all walk to work!

The flat itself is very spacious, especially for being in central London, and has a lovely new kitchen.

We have a lovely courtyard out the back of the property – which makes it very quiet for central London.

The flat is pretty central, in the St Paul’s area (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Do you feel like you have enough space?

The bedrooms are really good sizes and all very equal.

Overall the flat feels like a very good size even though there are 4 of us in a 3 bed. The en-suite helps to reduce fights for the bathroom in the morning.

How have you made your place feel like home?

We love the communal area – we’ve tried to make it feel homely with plants, books and candles.

We all love cooking so the book shelf is a big feature – with all the cookbooks.

We also love hosting people, so enjoy having a large dining area and ensure the bar is always fully stocked… and are so far unbeaten at Prosecco pong.

There’s plenty of space for socialising (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Are there any major issues with the house you have to put up with?

Not so far.. everything seems to be going well.

Any plans to move again?

Not at the moment! So far we are really happy with everything and making the most of living here.

And have you considered buying a place?

Renting works really well for us at the moment but at some point in the future it would be nice to have our own places.



Shall we have a look around the flat?

Here’s the living room (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

As we mentioned, it’s pretty spacious (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

The book collection, for your judgement (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

There’s an open plan kitchen and dining area (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

The housemates have all known each other since university (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Hannah shares her bedroom with her boyfriend, Jack (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Theirs is the master bedroom, with an en suite bathroom (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Harriet has her own room (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Here’s the en-suite bathroom – fancy, right? (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Claps for the electric toothbrush, please (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

A little bit larger (and complete with a bidet), here’s the main bathroom (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Minus points for this toothbrush, sorry guys (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Cute (Picture: Susannah Ireland/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.

MORE: What I Rent: Phebe, £1,200 a month for a one-bedroom flat in Raynes Park

MORE: What I Rent: Sophie and Samy, £1,516 a month for a one-bedroom flat in Hackney

MORE: What I Rent: Paula and Rianna, £1,300 a month for a two-bedroom flat in Peckham

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