Londoners have been left outraged and confused after coming across an advert from a landlord with a request.
The advert, posted to SpareRoom, a website designed for finding flatmates and rooms in shared accommodation, is for a one-bed balcony property in the Surrey Quays area.
Asking for a rental price of £2,200 per calendar month, the landlord described the property as "stylish" and "comfortable".
Adding that the flat is "bright and modern" and in a "well-connected London neighbourhood".
‘Pay me £2200 a month to cat sit MY CATS’
byu/Shot-Ad-9631 inlondon
However, it was the home's description or price tag that left Londoners confused.
In the rental details for the property, one Londoner noticed that the landlord added a note, reading: "The flat comes with the lovely responsibility of caring for two well-behaved cats during your stay."
Leading to some locals suggesting that the landlord would seemingly be charging a tenant £2,200 for them to have to cat sit.
Londoners outraged over £2,200 cat sitting fee
The advert on SpareRoom was posted to the Reddit group r/London with one user captioning the post "Pay me £2200 a month to cat sit MY CATS".
The post quickly gained attention and stirred up debate among fellow Reddit users.
One person wrote: "Sounds like Airbnb wouldn’t let them list ‘cat sitting’ as a condition for guests, so they’re trying their luck on SpareRoom."
Another person suggested that the landlord should offer a discount to tenants: "If they want a catsitter, they should be paying the catsitter or at least offering a substantial discount for being a catsitter for a month."
A third Londoner described the tenancy as "torture", saying: "This would be torture. The landlord would be checking in like every day on the cats."
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One Reddit user shared that it was not the first time they'd come across a 'cat sitting' service, writing: "I actually saw an ad like this recently on SpareRoom that was written from the perspective of the cats. It was psychotic."
A final confused reader wrote: "It would cost about £2k per month to get an overnight cat sitter from Cat in the flat for 31 days, this person is absolutely mad.
"Who would respond to this ad? Why would someone pay you to mind your flat?"
