A man is renting the nook under his stairs for £192 a month

From sky-high prices to rooms with barely enough space to breathe in, the rental market can be absolutely brutal.

But how would you feel about moving into a cupboard under the stairs – much like Harry Potter – for less than £200 per month?

This isn’t a theoretical scenario: it’s an actual CraigsList listing in San Jose, California, where the current tenant is looking for the company of a ‘nice nerdy gamer’ to live under his stairs for £192 ($250). Minecraft stans, assemble.

Measuring just 3ft by 10ft, the advertised area is currently without a door. However, the listing says the nook ‘can be blocked off with some jury-rigging’ – doesn’t exactly scream privacy.

The cupboard is tucked inside a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, with the current tenant desperate to sublet so he can cut down on his recently increased rent.

Metro doesn’t have a reporter on the ground in San Jose, but the Bay Area News Group recently checked out the listing and confirmed it’s real.

The ad poster, who asked to be named only as Jason because his lease does not allow subletting, said he doesn’t ‘care if [the new housemate is] male or female.’

He does, however, draw the line at a ‘criminal record, any addictions, or pets’.

And if you were planning on having a few pals round, forget it: the ‘lucky’ roommate is not allowed any guests — ‘ever.

‘Sorry bout that, but seriously, who’d want to come visit this place?’ Jason wrote, before noting that there are, thankfully, no restrictions on cooking, internet, kitchen or bathroom use.

(You could live like Harry Potter under the stairs (Picture: Warner Bros)

"My appliances and utilities are your appliances and utilities. Use my plates and silverware. Enjoy my TV and Xbox! Paint your 40k minis at my table, with my paints (not my brushes though),’ he added.

Interested in applying? You’ll need to ‘put the title of your current favourite video game as the email subject or your first text,’ otherwise you won’t receive a reply.

If you’re successful, you’ll be expected to help out with the household chores twice a week – but only downstairs, which Jason assures only takes 30 minutes to clean.

He also offers to run a Dungeons and Dragons game for his chosen applicant to sweeten the deal.

A grim reality Statistically, the average monthly rent in the Californian city comes in at $3,323 (£2,558.89), so it’s little wonder tenants are looking for alternative options.

San Francisco rents are much higher than the average for the rest of the US, which according to data from Forbes, is $1,372 (£1,056.81) nationally.

Ref: A man is renting the nook under his stairs for £192 a month (metro) Photo Credit-Warner Bros