'Pay what you can afford' to live with SpareRoom founder in his listed Spitalfields house

Fancy renting in Spitalfields? SpareRoom’s founder is looking for a new housemate who’ll be able to “pay what you can afford” to share his 300-year-old home.

Rupert Hunt, a tech entrepreneur who founded the flat sharing website in 2004, posted an advert on SpareRoom for a new housemate today. Hunt, 49, lives with his cousin and “ridiculously cute” Scottish Fold cat, Boo, and is looking for a “WFH cat lover” who can help look after Boo.

The room in question is actually the whole lower ground floor of Hunt’s characterful, Grade II-listed townhouse, which comprises a double bedroom with an ensuite bathroom —featuring a rolltop bath— a small outdoor terrace with a table and chairs and a second room. This, Hunt suggests, could be used as a workspace or home gym.

Hunt’s plant-filled Georgian house, shown in a video tour, is tastefully decorated, with wooden floors, sash windows and panelled walls. Housemates will have access to the kitchen —and Aga— the lounge with its period fireplace, outdoor roof terrace, cinema room and “band room”, which contains a drumkit and keyboard.

“I’m a bit of a frustrated musician,” Hunt explains in his video. “Someone who plays piano or maybe even drums, if they can do it quietly enough, would be quite fun. But really the only requirements are that we get on well, that you love Boo, and that you bring a positive energy to the household.”

Hunt is looking for someone to move in from 1 November for a minimum of three months. Interested applicants will need to have a live “Room Wanted” advertisement on SpareRoom, and should apply by uploading a video of themselves explaining what they’re looking for and what makes them a great flatmate.

Hunt’s new housemate can be of any age or background, and doesn’t necessarily need to share his own interests. “[I] believe the best housemate matches aren’t always the obvious ones. Shared interests can be great, but it’s the interests we don’t (yet) share that can be the most rewarding. I’m open minded about who I live with”.

Hunt’s house is valued at more than £3 million, while the average rent for a room in the area is £1,257, according to SpareRoom. Hunt started offering rooms in his house on a “pay what you can afford” basis in 2013, after separating from his wife, and has had 14 housemates over the past decade, ranging from 21 to 51 in age. “Some of my previous housemates haven’t paid at all to live here and one or two have paid full market rent. Most are somewhere in between.”

“I’m doing this because my last housemates just moved out and I miss having them around. But rents have become so expensive and I’m keen to find someone who fits the house, not just someone who can afford the rent,” says Hunt.

“It’s also an opportunity to encourage other people to think about doing the same thing. There are 26 million empty rooms in owner occupied houses - encouraging more people to rent theirs out would really help the housing crisis. More rooms means lower rents, which has to be a good thing.”

Hunt’s offer is likely to be extremely competitive. Last time he advertised for a housemate, he says had over 7,000 applicants. “Given the lack of supply in the rental market right now, and how much rents have risen by in recent years, I’m expecting to get hundreds, probably thousands, of enquiries,” he says. “It’s hard to know though, as I haven’t advertised my rooms on SpareRoom for a while. Most of my recent housemates came through friends of friends.”

How will Hunt decide, then? “I should probably have a clever answer for this,” he says. “But the truth is I’ll do what everyone else does in this situation: I’ll meet a few people I think might be good and I’ll see who I click with. They’ll need to get on with my other current housemate: my cousin, who’s living with me while she starts her first job after graduation, and my cat Boo will probably end up having a say!”

“The important thing for me is the ‘pay what you can afford’ aspect,” he adds. “I’m lucky enough to live in one of the more expensive parts of London, but I don’t want to limit my search to people who can afford the rent. I’m looking for someone I’ll genuinely get on with as they’ll be sharing my house with me.”