“Insane:” The two-bed Manchester flat where the rental deposit is £14,300 upfront

A listing for a two-bedroom apartment in Manchester has gone viral after asking renters for a £14,300 upfront payment.

The property located in Leftbank in Spinningfields features two bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen/living space. The fully furnished property - which has since been let - boasts a fully fitted kitchen, a plasma screen TV, sofas, two beds and storage.

Flat hunter Tom Wilson, 28, took to Twitter to share his shock at the 11-month up-front payment. In his Twitter thread, about the £1,300 a month flat, Tom wrote: “I present to you a perfectly normal-looking rental property in Manchester. Guess what I’ve blacked out in the property description that they are asking for due to ‘high demand’ [...] “Are you ready for this? Alongside the deposit, they want you to pay 11 months rent UP FRONT.”

The listing for the city centre facing property states that “due to high demands we can only consider offers of 11 months fixed term contract with 11 months upfront rent payment, offering at or above asking price.”

One tweeter replied: “Offers involving a year’s rent in advance? Almost as if the housing system is broken.” Another person added: “This is hilarious, insane, and depressing all at once.”

The listing has since been taking down since the flat was let out, but other posts on Zoopla show flats in the trendy city centre area being advertised for rents of up to £1,895 a month for a small two-bed apartments.