Homes without lounges now a reality for renters

Renters on tight budgets are finding it impossible to find homes without lounges. In the first half of the year, almost a third of homes listed on flat-sharing portal SpareRoom had no living space. Ella Murray, 22, who lives in London with three others, said,

I'm not able to sacrifice money for more space at this moment in my life.

Landlords claim that turning a lounge into a bedroom helps them save on their higher mortgages and other unexpected expenses, while tenants are still in need of a tenant.

However, a lack of communal space means that many renters are living and working in a single bedroom, putting them at risk of social alienation. Some others also point out the false economy of being compelled to go out to socialise, which can cost more than a night with friends.

Cost-of-living pressures

Students who live away from home could be able to rent in a house where the front room has been turned into a bedroom. However, these latest reports show that this is a reality for young professionals renting in their 20s and 30s. SpareRoom's report, which was also posted on the BBC, shows that the data only pertains to flat or house shares, and does not include any studio or one-bedroom listings. According to official reports, monthly private rents in the United Kingdom have increased by 5. In the year to September, the year went from 5% to £1,354 to a mere 5%. According to the most recent Rightmove results, there are 10 prospective renters on average vying for every available rental house on average as rent increases. A landlord can convert a lounge into a bedroom, giving a tenant an extra space. It could also mean lower rent payments for each tenant, but possibly more for landlords facing higher mortgage repayments than seen in recent years. Ella and her three housemates split the rent of £3,000 a month, based on the size of their bedrooms, but their house does not have a living room.

We have a decent-sized kitchen with a dining table, but we usually dine out instead. We'd definitely socialize more if we had a living room,

she said. As a result, she said the rent was cheaper, and that living in London made it the norm among her friends in other rented houses in the area. She works in musical theatre and said she would be more able to rent somewhere with a living room if her salary rises and she moves in with mates. Hannah Carney, 26, also lives in a house without a lounge, and claims that none of the places she rented before she was 18 had a living room. She says she misses having a social restaurant, and that means she and her flatmates will definitely spend more on dinner and drinks than going out for dinner and cocktails.

I'd love to say that all buildings should have a common area. I wish that this was the norm, but I know it isn't realistic,

she said. She believes that film nights in a box room could also be used to hang their washing.

We've received so many messages from people who've known their best friends and partners in flatshares, who's raised families or started businesses together,

SpareRoom's founder Matt Hutchinson said.

Those kinds of stories will become more popular as communal, sociable spaces within homes are not covered. Sadly, loneliness is alarmingly common.

With rents as high as they are now, it's understandable that people are looking for ways to lower the cost of living. The root of the problems, Chris Norris, chief policy officer of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), was that there were just too few rental homes to satisfy demand. Any landlords facing a difficult outlook were considering multi-occupancy homes in order to ensure that their businesses remained profitable enough to continue.

With rising costs and the expectation of smaller margins to contend with,

Mr Norris said, "some landlords will definitely be looking at how to use their funds more effectively and meet demand more effectively while still providing high-quality private rented homes. The BBC has previously reported unlawful house-sharing in multi-occupancy buildings at the more extreme end of the spectrum.