Buying a decent property in such a perilous market, where the average house costs upwards of £268,000, seems like a pipe dream.
However, one YouTuber decided to challenge that notion – by buying a fully functioning house from Amazon at a fraction of the price. Nathan Graham, who runs the Unspeakable channel and is from the US, bought a large prefabricated property from the online retailers for $39,000 (around £30,000) and was stunned at both its sturdiness and ease of construction.
In this video, which has since clocked up more than eight million views, he and his friends documented their process from unwrapping the house from its large Amazon box to folding out two large wings and creating a habitable dwelling.
He explained: “That’s wild. It didn’t come with instructions and we built it. I was kind of worried that we were going to get scammed buying this thing.”
Nathan then gave a tour of the apartment, which was furnished with a plush sofa, an 80-inch television, a bunk bed and a fully functioning toilet and shower.
The YouTuber even performed an audacious stunt by placing all the furniture on the roof to test its sturdiness.
However, he was later stunned to discover that the property he bought was missing a vital component. “I’m trying to find somewhere to plug in the fridge, but there’s no electrical outlets,” he revealed. “How are we supposed to plug stuff in? How are we supposed to cook food?”
A perplexed Nathan later realised his mistake – he forgot to read the small print, which stated that customers had to install their own circuits. He made up for that oversight by buying a generator.
His followers were quick to marvel at the flatpack property. One user said: “Dude I want a house like that. That will be so cool!! And that house is so awesome. This video should be sponsored by Amazon.”
Another commented: “I actually like this house . Looks really nice and spacious. Wondering do you have to pay property taxes.”
A third person opined: “At first I was like ‘Why is the house so tiny?’ until I saw you could expand it! That’s so cool!”
Nathan’s experience is no fluke. Amazon has made a splash into the property market by selling tiny homes to first-time buyers for less than £10,000.
One such dwelling, a 20ft x 40ft home which includes three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, is currently on sale at the online retailer’s site for the tidy sum of £9,824.52.
The last time a typical house cost that much was in 1974. According to Nationwide, the average house price for the first three months of that year was £9,928. Currently, the average house price sits at £268,518.
As for the flatpack house, the listing describes it as “generic”, “customisable” and “foldable”. It has been designed with a welded steel frame, anti-corrosion coatings and galvanised steel, said to last a minimum of 30 years.
The house also comes with thermal insulation and fire resistance boards. Despite its prefabricated nature, it is apparently strong enough to withstand level 8 (gale force) winds.
“The folding modular home design ensures portability and comfort. They are customisable and eco-friendly and blends with local environment,” the listing read.
In addition, the listing claims people can get the house built within 10 minutes, can be moved anywhere and it comes with “complete electrical circuits”. At time of writing, the earliest that the flatpack house can be delivered is 14 March.
Are tiny homes legal in the UK?
For anyone interested in buying flatpack properties, it’s best to be familiar with planning regulations as well as health and safety laws. According to modular property specialists The Qube, owning a tiny home is legal in the UK “regardless of whether they are on a trailer base or not”.
It added on their website: “The legality of tiny houses is all to do with where it is and what you use it for. There are many places you can legally put your tiny house in the UK. Some of these locations require planning permission and some do not.”
For locations that do not require planning permission, The Qube stated: “If you want to put your tiny house in the back garden of the home that you own, and the overall size of your tiny house does not exceed 19.8m x 6.7m (65ft x 22ft), then good news. You do not require planning permission.”
The dimensions described above are based on the guidelines set out in the 1968 Caravan Sites Act, which classifies any structure “when assembled, physically capable of being moved by road from one place to another” as a caravan.
Mark Stephenson, director of self-build project company Elsworth Projects, explained to the Homebuilding and Renovating website: “Sometimes the planning and building regulations is navigated around by adding wheels to the tiny house and calling it a mobile building or caravan.”
The Qube’s experts later stated any tiny houses exceeding the aforementioned sizes will need planning permission. As for paying council tax, they added: “If it is your permanent residence, yes. If it is not your permanent residence, no.
“For example, if your tiny house is in your back garden and you are using it as a craft room or a spare bedroom for when guests visit, you do not need to pay council tax on top of what you are already paying for your permanent home.”
