Double Room Quiet Flat - Leyton Walthamstow border

Hello all

i am happy to present to you the room we have available to rent in our quiet, cosy and chill Victorian semi-detached home (ground floor flat within a house demised in to two separate properties), which sits nicely on the North Leyton/ South Walthamstow border, in the bustling and colourful East London borough of Waltham Forest.
rental type - lodgers agreement.

a bit about the room/house/street -

The room available is a spacious double room, it is of the typical style you will find with late Victorian properties - tall ceilings, lovely original plaster cornices & ceiling roses. Wide, tall windows allowing for brightness year round, original solid pine floorboards, a gorgeous original Victorian art nouveau fireplace (sadly not in use as a fireplace) all this giving the occupier an air of charming allure & creative presence. The room’s tall ceilings leave you far from the usual boxed in claustrophobic feeling you experience within some of London’s usual lets. The large windows allow for a view in to the nature of the garden - large conifer and camelia trees which bloom pink and white in spring, and allow in day-long bright mellow natural light.

The room will have slightly different furnishings to what you see in the photos so please view this as an example.
You will for sure have access to the large wardrobe and a desk which has plenty of storage, these are not replaceable by your own furnishings. We will buy a bed and mattress if needed but we are aware that some people have this already so we are waiting to see who we find and what they need!
The same goes for a single seater comfy chair, we will discuss the potential for this with our prospective new lodger.
There will be no 'communal living room' as such as this is OUR bedroom/studio room. however we do have our own sofa in there too and we find we don’t mind sharing a spot on it with our house mate when watching a movie, hanging out.

The bathroom is virtually brand new as I am currently refurbing it. We are doing this ourselves bar some plumbing so bit by bit. it is usable and exactly how it is now as it is in the pics, but brand spanking new and will only improve! Just need to finish the wall tiles. please see side note on this at bottom*

The kitchen is where it all happens. Its bright, its open, its a real good size. we have a dart board, couldn’t ask for much more really. We have a huge fridge freezer, American style. we love cooking. lots of equipment. all of the general 'white goods'. No microwave, we don’t want (or need) one in our house, sorry!

The Garden. its big and wild and beautiful. It benefits from an abundance of bright light and sunshine through spring/summer, birds tweeting, foxes foxing. just a lovely space, not shared with anyone else. defo room for planters for growing whatever you like, room for yoga, relaxing etc defo want someone who appreciates nature and would like to get stuck in on that front. Property also has side access via alley in to garden. ideal for bikes. There is absolutely no possible break in access as we have large metal security doors to this side access. We also have a ring door bell so camera security.

The room is quiet, our home is quiet. There is no adjoining house as the property is semi-detached, so no noisy neighbours blasting bbc news at 6am or blasting music in their bedrooms at 2am. so this room is garden/alley way side. the street is mostly families/ young couples/ elderly so this means its typically quiet. The street itself has a pocket park at the end our side and is therefore a no through road to cars, so its extra quiet with minimal traffic noise. Our neighbours are all quiet and friendly.

so to break it down and avoid confusion the flat is; our room (typically the living room if not sharing), your room, bathroom, spacious kitchen, large garden. we have a basement also.

a bit about the area -

i was born in this area, and i must say it has become a very charming and bustling little place of recent. There are now plenty of (good!) coffee shops/ eateries/ organic shops/ wine bars and shops/ cool pubs/ a couple of theatres and nice social venues. Alot going on for creatives. plenty of gyms/leisure centres. local community initiatives. the community saunas of Walthamstow and hackney are not hard to access also. Theres plenty of nature/forest as we are on top of where Epping forest begins, and a stone throw also from both hackney and Walthamstow marshes and the infamous river lea canal network. our closest and most utilised high streets are typically lea bridge road and hoe street which benefit from having shops like aldi/tesco/small tesco, laundrettes, bric a brac shops, small corner shops (our closest one is a 30 second walk on the corner of our street, which makes life so easy when you realise you need one lemon for cooking and you dont have.) westfield a bus ride away.

We are conveniently placed in terms of transport and I frankly think we are spoilt for choice. Leyton midland road (overground) is a 10 minute walk. Walthamstow central (Victoria line) is 15/20 min walk and 10 by bus. Leyton station (central line) in 25 min walk and quicker via bus.
The closest bus stops are within a minute walk from the flat, and are connections towards hackney and Islington and wstow central, with one being a 24 hour bus (55/N55) coming from central London through the city/Shoreditch/hackney.
Lea bridge station also connects directly to Stratford station.
Waltham forest expanded and improved its cycle lane network in recent years so it’s actually quite nice to commute from here via bicycle.

we have street parking if you have a car (annual permit fee payable to LBWF)

ultimately there is enough going on around here that it is not completely out in the sticks but quiet enough where you can step out of the noise from time to time, with ideal transport connections. a nice juxtaposition we think.

a bit about us -

we are a married couple, we work full time in hospitality, the good type of hospo not the party all night every night hospo (Nat is also a part time mature student studying to be a Dance movement psychotherapist. I (Lu) am a chef, working in hospo. I also have my own catering side hustle. I (Lu) am half Sardinian half cockney, says it all really. Nat is from some random place in south England that I doubt you will even know, but that’s not her fault and she means well.

We really both like a chill life, we love food as in we cook a lot, from scratch, we cook fresh with fresh quality ingredients and this is important to us. we enjoy relaxing, the odd glass of wine, we aren’t big party people but do socialise from time to time, we work hard and sometimes late. We are both creative passionate types but not stuck up or overtly serious, we like a laugh too. We just like an easy and happy life filled with good times, good food and nature.

On to a central part of this household, one which it is important for you to be on board with. There are 2 cats and a dog living here. They are not just pets they are family. We fully appreciate that not everyone is used to living with animals, or that everyone even likes animals. We get it and that is fair enough. If pets living in your home is a deal breaker for you then our home will not suit you. Likewise it is a deal breaker for us if you also have 0 clue about the reality of living with pets, so please be transparent about this!!

Our dog is a Staffy, and if you know what that is then you will know that they are amazing companions, brilliant family dogs and just generally your best mate. She is no exception. Never a dull moment with Dot (her name is Dot). She is loving, friendly, happy and just makes for humorous content. She comes in heat twice a year which means periods, we have a system that works just fine. at least it’s not monthly like us :). happy to explain this further and if this puts you off then fair enough!

We have one in door cat, she is tiny, her name is ace and she is a mixture of timid but spicy. She will cuddle up to you but if you blink she will run away and then give you a death stare but then roll all over the floor for belly rubs. One day she will be on your lap the next day she will be under the bath for 2 hours for no reason. She was rescued by me as stray kitten from the road outside.
She cannot go outside so we have a couple of minor and easy to follow house rules that don’t really affect our existence other than our cat not dying (e. g keeping windows on latch/kitchen door closed)

Ernie (another stray rescue) lives mainly in the kitchen/ garden. Just your general low maintenance good boy, very sweet cat.

That is all the pets mentioned. We most certainly hope that this is not a problem for you, we want this to be viewed as a plus as honestly these animals genuinely bring us boundless joy in what is currently a very stressful world.

Who & what we are ideally searching for in our house mate -

As we have mentioned - this is a chill and friendly, welcoming environment, we have pets who we love, we see importance in the quality and integrity of the things we consume, we also like to keep our spaces tidy and free of negativity and we like to live in peace. We are looking for someone who is clean, quiet, non-smoking & healthy, professional and above all able to display common sense and behold a good moral compass. We would expect you to show genuine understanding and display precaution in our home regarding safety i. e. not leaving electrics on all day/ checking gas is off, being aware we have a small indoor cat.

No issues with gay or straight etc (although we are a married female couple) we are not requiring YOU to be exactly that, but if you are lgbt etc then that’s all good too!
We eat meat, we aren’t precious about what you eat, if you are V/VG then fine by us, but you will need to accept we love meat also!

We want someone who will defo take to the pets well and be happy to coexist with them, interact with them lovingly and positively and ideally but not necessarily someone who has had pet experience, we just want you to have a basic understanding of how it genuinely is with pets. yes, they have fur, its true and sometimes need letting out for a wee. Someone who is mindful of the fact that they live in a house that cares for small and vulnerable beings that need protecting.

It is ideal that you will not be a party animal type and preferably single, defo no drugz. Most certainly no couples. This is not a lodging where it’s just you renting but also your other half 4 days a week or every other weekend. This does not work for us.

We would like someone we genuinely feel a connection with, someone who enjoys having a meal together, someone we can see ourselves chilling but also happy to coexist in harmony separately on our own planes within the property.
There will be three of us here, the space is plenty and adequate to accommodate 3 (we have had this set previously and its works nicely!) There’s plenty of living space in each bedroom, and as previously stated the bathroom and bedroom is a nice size and suits just fine, along with the lovely massive garden space. The fact that the house is of the period it is, it is spacious and one never feels on top of another and I can say this through lived experience.
I only hope to be as transparent as possible as it is important to find the right person, for us and for you.

*regarding upgrades to the property mentioned earlier! Yes there are some minor DIY upgrades on the go, none of which will be of a hinderance to you however, when I do anything (as mentioned I will finish off the bathroom upgrades but it will still be usable) I will knock off part of your rent within the month, I think that’s fair for the inconvenience.
Rent breakdown -

Contract type - Lodgers agreement
Minimum 6 months with a deposit (£1000) plus 1 month up front. we will renew the contract every 6 months.
We would like 2 references.
1 month notice from you if you want to leave.
£950/ month covers everything. rent and your share of bills.

Ideally looking to have someone in by mid Feb (but can be flexible for the right person). I am doing some little refurb bits in the room so it’s nice and ready for the prospective lodger!

Please contact us if you have any questions at all and if you want to come and meet us, the pets and most importantly view the property lets set something up!

cc band i think is B but i must dbl check this again!