A local authority has launched a consultation into a ‘bedsit’ licensing scheme.

The move follows the scandal this summer when a bedsit measuring some nine feet square was advertised for rent with a bed just inches from the front door and a kitchen sharing the space, and Islington Council stepped in to declare it illegal.

The London council is now consulting on rental accommodation in two notorious areas – Holloway Road and Caledonian Road.

In these two streets, there are some 600 properties subdivided into accommodation for 3,500 tenants.

The council says some of it is too dirty and too small for human habitation.

A new licensing scheme would operate alongside the existing mandatory licensing of HMOs. Landlords would pay £260 to license each bedsit, studio or bedroom Holloway and Caledonian Roads. Each licence would last five years and failure to obtain a licence could result in a fine of up to £20,000.

Landlord Andrew Panayi, who converted a hostel into a number of small bedsits including the one banned by the council, has been ordered to convert the building back to its original use or apply for planning permission to turn it into habitable homes.

This is how Eye reported the investigation into the tiny bedsit back in June.