Londoners are paying to live in deserted schools, office blocks and an old cathedral to avoid ‘insane’ rents

Increasing numbers of Londoners are moving into disused properties as “guardians,” lured by fees that are usually much lower than rents in the same area.

Opposite a bed in central London, light filters through a stained-glass window depicting, in fragments of copper and blue, Jesus Christ. Three people have lived in the deserted cathedral in the past two years, with each occupant — an electrician, a sound engineer and a journalist — paying a monthly fee to live in the priest’s quarters. The cathedral is managed by Live-in Guardians, a company finding occupants for disused properties, including schools, libraries and pubs, across Britain. The residents — so-called property guardians — pay a fixed monthly “license fee,” which is usually much lower than the typical rent in the same area. Applications to become guardians are going “through the roof,” with more people in their late thirties and forties signing on than in the past, said Arthur Duke, the founder and managing director of Live-in Guardians. “That’s been brought about by the cost-of-living crisis,” he said. “People are looking for cheaper ways to live.” The practice of populating disused properties with guardians is unregulated in Britain and comes with fewer legal protections for the residents than renting. Guardians have also complained of inconveniences and outright hazards, such as no access to drinkable tap water and rickety ceilings.