'Mice and police raids: my London renting hell'

From an infestation so bad that he had to sleep with his shoes on to a mistaken identity police raid, Jonathan Kanengoni has almost given up on living in the capital

- Jonathan Kanengoni

UNTIL I started looking for a flat to rent in London, I saw myself as fairly lucky — these were the halcyon days of 2021 and I had just graduated from university. Fast forward two years and I’m at my childhood desk at my parents’ house wondering whether the universe has it in for me. Or are months of frozen nights, mouse infestations and police raids now a standard rite-of-passage for renters in the capital?

I hope not, but it’s certainly easy to feel that way after the 24 months I’ve just had. Recently, like a fifth of all adult-age children, I’ve had to move back in with my parents. But it’s not down to the cost-of-living pressures that force most young people back. Yes, it’s a relief not to be paying the pressurising £1,200 a month I’ve been forking out over the last couple of years, but cash wasn’t the reason I had to hightail it home. For me, it was down to the dire conditions of renting in London in 2023. And I don’t just mean the odd mouldy bathroom.