A two-bed home in Hendon, north London

There is no washing machine. Start there.

This is the first thing to say, because it is the thing most likely to rule the flat out. There is no washing machine and no dryer in the apartment. If you are here for several weeks, you need to plan for a launderette or a laundry service, and you should work out where that is before you book rather than in week two.

Four of our five homes have a machine in the property. This one does not. If in-property laundry is what decides it, look at Forest Gate E7 or the York house instead and we will not be offended.

• No washing machine, no dryer, no shared utility room in the building.
• There is an iron, hangers, and spare pillows and blankets.
• Everything else in the kitchen is there — this is a laundry gap, not a bare flat.

The space

Around 970 sq ft across two bedrooms, one bathroom and a living room, on a residential road. It is a flat someone could live in for months, which is the test we apply to all of these.

• Bedroom one: a double and a single. Bedroom two: a double and a single. Four people sleep behind a door.
• Living room: two sofa beds. That is where the fifth and sixth guests go, so the living room is not available to them once the beds are out.
• One bathroom for the whole flat: marble-tiled, walk-in shower with a rainfall head, vanity basin, heated towel rail. Towels and toiletries are provided. One bathroom and six people is a real morning queue — worth saying out loud.
• Kitchen: a full-size oven and hob under an extractor, microwave, dishwasher, fridge/freezer. Pans, crockery, cutlery and glasses. Tea and coffee to start you off.
• A private patio off the kitchen — enclosed, composite decking. It is a patio, not a garden. Somewhere to stand outside with a coffee.

Working from it

Wi-Fi runs throughout the flat. We do not publish a speed figure for this home because we have not measured it, and a number we have not measured is worth nothing to you on a call.

There is no desk. There is a dining table you can spread paperwork across and set a laptop on, and a breakfast bar with two stools. For one or two people working from the flat during the day that is workable. For four people all on video calls at once, in a two-bedroom flat with an open kitchen, it is not, and you should assume that.

Parking, and the app to download first

Parking is paid, on the street outside, and it is paid through the PayByPhone app. There is no cash payment on site. Download the app before you arrive — the alternative is standing on the pavement next to a loaded car setting up an account.

For anyone driving in and out for work: the North Circular (A406) and Junction 2 of the M1 are both easily reached from here, which is most of the reason people pick this one over something closer to the centre.

Practicalities for a long stay

Bookings are accepted up to a year. Most of the people in this flat are here for a contract, not a weekend.

• Self check-in by lockbox from 4pm. The code is sent 24 to 48 hours ahead through the guest portal. Check-out is 10am.
• On longer bookings we arrange housekeeping every two weeks. It is charged as an added service, not included in the stay.
• Quiet hours start at 8pm. It is a residential road and the neighbours live there year-round.
• Pets: two dogs, or one cat. £100 per pet per stay, and we need to know in advance rather than on the doorstep.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit in the flat.

Getting about

• Bus stops directly outside the building, with frequent services towards central London.
• Hendon Central station, on the Northern line, is about a fifteen-minute walk. That is fifteen minutes on foot to the station, not fifteen minutes on the train.
• The North Circular (A406) and Junction 2 of the M1 are both easily reached by car.
• Guests have used the flat as a base for events at Wembley Stadium.
• It is a residential road in a residential part of north London, not a high street.
• Hendon Central is the only station we have a measured walking time for. We have not timed door-to-door journeys to anywhere else, so we are not going to publish one.

Who it suits

A team of two to four people working across north London or up the M1 corridor, and the office manager or agency booking for them. It suits colleagues who each want a bed in a bedroom — the two rooms take four — better than it suits six, because the fifth and sixth sleep on sofa beds in the living room and everyone shares one bathroom. Pick it for the Northern line at Hendon Central, the buses outside the door and quick access to the A406 and the M1; do not pick it if the person staying needs to do their own washing, or needs to park a car without paying for it.

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