Most Londoners would be well aware of what crowded urban living is, some people would even say they are an overcrowded household – which is no surprise as buying or renting in the British capital is becoming increasingly expensive and people are feeling the squeeze literally.
Ok, fair enough, living in large metropolises does come at ‘spacious’ price in every sense of the word, but one London resident is actually residing in a seventy five inch wide house, in the Borough of Haringey. The owner, said they were sandwiched between the prosperity of metropolitan inflation, and the hellish prospect of having to commute large distances multiple times a day.
The particularly narrow house in Haringey, which mind you again measures at seventy five inches in width, was actually pitched for sale at the very healthy two hundred thirty something thousand pounds. The actual existence of a seventy five inch wide house (which is also a man and van removal company nightmare for sure) should come as no surprise, why? Because simply people want more houses than they are available in cities. The owner of the seventy five inch house, who takes the situation with a dose of humour, says that in this case cramped living is taken to a whole new level. The old saying of not being able to swing a cat inside the house is valid here too, but one can swap the cat for fleas may be.
How is it possible to have a seventy five inch house though, who built, why they built it, and who sanctioned it? The super narrow house is owned by a teaching assistant who is originally from Hackney. The changing nature and population of Hackney had forced the lady to move to Dagenham, which at the time was not her preferred residential locality.
Problem with the narrow house is not so much the trouble caused to the man and van removal people, but the fact that a teaching assistant, a well-educated member of society who has been doing the right thing all her life is forced to be flexible enough to squeeze (literally) and live in a joke of a house really. Opinions vary greatly as to who is responsible for this ‘phenomenon’ if that’s the right word, and how it’s come to this. Pointing fingers and dishing blame is always easy, but getting to the bottom of things – not as much.
Industry experts who are familiar with the seventy five inch house situation in the Borough of Haringey, as well as other similar cases and scenarios attribute it to a number of factors, which are quite common these days. First of all there was no attempt at economic analysis – the reasons for this error could be many, not just because the property market was loaded in favour of foreign buyers. In this case, the council planning and development system was also to blame. Fact of the matter remains though (which perhaps best explains the seventy five inch house thing) – there are more people who want to live in London than there are properties.
The seventy five inch house in Haringey did not sell at the auction as it did not attract enough interest from buyers.
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About the Author:
Kim Jacobs
Kim Jacobs is a removals coordinator with over 11 years of experience as part of the Get man and van team and other firms in the home and office relocation industry in London. Before joining our company, Kim has worked in various logistical and transportation companies and institutions such as Transport for London, The Removals Ombudsman, and has coordinated moving projects with some of the biggest suppliers of various goods such as IKEA, HomeBase, Amazon, Sainsbury's and others. While working as a chief removals coordinator, Kim also enjoys sharing her expertise with others through writing in our blog.
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