Rent Boy: How One Man Spent 20 Years Falling Off the Property Ladder

Pete May spent 20 years failing to get on the property ladder, struggling to find a decent flat in first Thatcher and then Blair’s England. Only rising house prices, rent, shady landlords, eviction notices, washing-up rotas, and asbestos stood between him and independent living. With Dexys Midnight Runners, the Clash, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg blaring from his speakers, May searched all of London for sane roommates and functional plumbing. Finding refuge in a group of like-minded Londoners, he was able to find comedy, hope and love amidst the cycle of packing boxes and heartbreak. This is a story of a real estate misfit — one that should give hope to anyone making their next flatshare application.

Pete May has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and is the author of There's a Hippo in my Cistern, Hammers in the Heart, West Ham: Irons in the Soul and Sunday Muddy Sunday. He still lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

"A funny, charming book with a serious and even angry undertow… Rent Boy works delightfully as a literary sitcom."
--The Independent

"With anger, deadpan humour and an obvious love of London that has kept him
in the city despite it all, May recounts a tale of ever increasing house
prices that will be all too familiar to many."
--Daily Mail

"Having once shared a toasted sandwich with Pete May I can now only count myself lucky that I never shared a flat with him. Should be required reading for the Housing Minister."
-- Phill Jupitus