London flat for £1 A MONTH... but there's a catch of course

One pound is not even enough to catch the bus any more, but that's the sum one landlord has offered in monthly rent for a double room in one of the city's most regenerated areas.

Adam Mughal, 32, said he has made the staggering offer for someone to move into his five bedroom house in Stratford in exchange for help to develop a web application he is working on.

According to the advert on flatsharing website Easy Roommate, renters are offered a "large clean double room" with unlimited internet and garden but applicants must have a high level of web or mobile development skills.

Mr Mughal, a business analyst, told the Standard the opportunity was ideal for an IT or business graduate who could combine working part-time for him with another job or studies.

He said: "I don't have the resources or the budget to hire a full-time web developer but this opportunity allows someone to stay in London where accommodation isn't cheap and work for me part-time.

"I work in the city full-time as well so I thought this was the only real benefit I could offer to people."

Since the advert was posted two weeks ago, more than 1,200 people have registered an interest, leading to suggestions more landlords could look to bring in tenants with specialist skills in exchange for low cost accommodation.

He added: "I have been bombarded with emails, it has just been crazy. Maybe this has opened a Pandora's Box for people to offer accommodation in exchange for skills."

The practice is more prevalent on the continent but experts say it is beginning to 'pick up' in the UK.

Albin Serviant, EasyRoommate's CEO, said: "There is a new European trend in landlords letting their spare room at a cheaper price in exchange of services.

"And although France is currently the leader of the trend with almost 3% of our content being impacted, this kind of advertisement is starting to pick up in the UK.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of those ads being published on the site over the next few years."

Offering cheap rents in exchange for help is already a tactic used by some London landlords as a way to help elderly people living by themselves.

Examples on Spareroom include adverts for 'sharers' to help pensioners with 10 hours of practical help a week in exchange for low cost accommodation.

They include a 82-year-old person in Penge looking for a tenant to help cook and watch TV together and a 92-year-old man in Highgate looking for someone to help with the shopping, gardening and accompany him on weekend visits to art galleries.