"Private room" advertised for rent was plastic shed in corner

PAY-Mattress-in-a-shed

If you thought New York City' rental market was crazy, London's is becoming truly demented.

The shed, pictured above, was listed for £530 a month—about $850—and sent 22-year-old home-seeker Joe Peduzzi home-seeker "laughing the whole way back to the Tube," as the Daily Mirror has it.

Joe said: "I've got a new job at a charity and I'm after somewhere I want to stay in for a little while so I'm not sure this is for me right now."

Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom.co.uk, said: "We're no strangers to quirky ads but this one puts a whole new spin on the phrase 'beds in sheds'.

"There's no clear reason given for putting a bed inside a shed, inside a bedroom, but it could be because the other housemates use the room as communal space.

"It's a sign of the times that fewer house shares now have living rooms."