London: Co-living property startup The Collective has announced its second “co-living space” in Canary Wharf will open in July, with rooms available to rent on a nightly basis.
The co-living concept is a more upmarket version of the student-accommodation model, where one pays for a room and shared facilities, such as a kitchen, bar, cinema, wellness centre, pool and a gym. It principally aims to target millennials who have grown wary of negligent landlords and who may not want to enter into a flat-share arrangement.
Renters are able to stay at the first Collective scheme in Old Oak in Northwest London for a minimum period of four months. Meanwhile, rooms will be on offer at the firm’s Canary Wharf space in East London for up to £100 a night, or £325 a week.
Those seeking a short-term tenancy agreement but prefer to have their own kitchen and facilities can stay in a growing number of apart-hotels that are popping up in the capital. This includes The Moorgate in the City, which has 27 suites costing from £200 a night, or £1,402.80 a week.
Paul Sandilands of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands architects told The Times: “In London apart-hotels, previously known as serviced apartments, were a big thing in the 1980s. They came with bland, basic, dated interiors, and a lot were converted into private residences.
“The uncertainty in the sales market means less people are committing to buying property, but while in a state of ‘wait and see’ they don’t necessarily want to be tied into long tenancies. Increasingly, build-to-rent landlords are stipulating standard three-year tenancies, so apart-hotels with the option of short stays are appealing,” he added.
The Collective founder Reza Merchant said that the demand for short-term rentals is a growing reflection of the differences in the way in which we work and live nowadays.
He said: “Organisations are moving away from a ‘face time’ culture to a ‘have your freedom and work from wherever you want as long as you deliver results’ culture. Where we live is no longer just our place of residence; we can ‘live’ in multiple places all over the world and perhaps never spend longer than a few days in each.
“What remains unchanged is our need for a sense of belonging, the ability to connect with like-minded people and a place that we can call home, which is why co-living is everything from one night to 365,” he added.
Merchant is also launching a further three Collective projects in New York.
For more information, visit The Collective website here.
