10 Scary Signs Our Housing System Isn't Working

Whether you're renting or buying, the housing market can be a nightmare.

1. This passageway in south London just sold for £260,000

The Guardian/Savills / Via theguardian.com

That’s right – not an actual house, but the gap between the charity shop and Starbucks. It’s just sold for £260,000 – more than four times its guide price – because it’s got planning permission for a studio.

2. This seven-foot wide house went on sale for £235,000

The Guardian/McHugh & Co / Via theguardian.com

This terrace house in Haringey, London is just 84 inches wide – that’s barely the width of three wheelie bins according to the Guardian. It was put up for auction with a guide price of £235,000.

3. This scarily accurate kids’ Halloween costume

Thisisladyland/Dee Ramadan / Via thisisladyland.com

Don’t have nightmares about how your children and grandchildren are going to afford a home of their own now, will you?

4. This horrible home infested with mice, cockroaches and bed-bugs

BBC News / Via bbc.co.uk

Some private renters are being forced to put up with all sorts of horrible stuff because minimum standards aren’t being enforced properly – and landlords who do provide a good service aren’t being rewarded.

5. Speaking of bed-bugs. . .

Mitch Platt / Via cih.org

When student Mitch Platt moved into a new house in his second year at university, he woke up covered head to toe in bites. Turned out the landlord knew there was a problem from the previous tenants, but had neglected to do anything about it.

6. This “uninhabitable” flat in Kensington that went on sale for £595,000

LBC/Hamptons International / Via lbc.co.uk

This one-bedroom leasehold flat in pricey south Kensington – with 30 years left on the lease – was described by the estate agent thus: “currently uninhabitable but would make a generous sized one bedroom flat or could with careful planning make a two bedroom flat.”

7. This tiny studio flat was offered for rent at £737 a month – and was snapped up in less than 16 hours

The Guardian/Rightmove / Via theguardian.com

It was marketed as “a modern studio apartment”.

8. This cupboard that went on the market for £7,500

Evening Standard / Via standard.co.uk

Need some extra storage space because your flat is too small and you can’t afford to move out? That will be £7,500 please.

9. The amount of money being spent on housing benefit – rather than building new homes

Via cih.org

Using 2013/14 prices, spending on housing benefit jumped from £16.5 billion in 1996/97 to £24.4 billion in 2012/13 – a 48 per cent real terms increase.

10. The number of people who work but still have to claim housing benefit

Via cih.org

The cost of housing means this number has more than doubled from around 445,000 to just over a million in the last five years.

So how do we solve the housing crisis?

There's no silver bullet (that's for werewolves) – but we've got some ideas on how to build 200,000 homes a year, improve standards for people who live in private rented homes and create a welfare system that works.