The internet has been left in uproar after a shoebox-sized apartment in Manhattan, the "tiniest" in the borough, appeared in a social media video that revealed it to be on the rental market for an eyewatering $1.2K a month.
"How is this legal," one viewer had commented.
The New York City apartment had featured on the Instagram of realtor Omer Labock. The NYC estate agent has amassed over 136,000 followers on the platform by giving the internet an inside look at the properties he works with through engaging video tours. Alas, one of his latest tours has led to more raised eyebrows than usual.
"This has to be the tiniest apartment in Manhattan," Labock shared in the post.
Audiences were then given a full tour of the narrow one-bed that lacks a kitchen, a bathroom or even much space to move around in. Its only saving grace is the small closet that resides in a corner near its front door.
A paned window leads out to fire escape, a typical fixture of many New York apartments. Labock demonstrated that he can almost touch both side walls of the minuscule apartment by stretching his arms out wide.
To prevent any doubt, Labock added: "This is the entire apartment. There is nothing left of it."
The post had been captioned: "Can't wait for the comments."
What Do The Comments Say?
Since it had been shared to the social media platform on February 19 by @realtoromer, the Instagram post has been liked by over 84,000 users and commented on more than 6,000 times.
To date, more than 6.5 million Instagrammers have viewed the post. The comments section has proven as colorful as Labock expected, to say the least.
"500 bucks would already be overpriced but who the f*** would pay 1,200 for that half room," one user wrote.
Another user added: "No bathroom then it's not an apartment. It's a room in a rooming house. Stop renaming things like this. It is a room in a rooming house. This is not an apartment. Stop allowing landlords to price these rooms as apartments."
"Where I live, this is considered a storage unit for 80,000 dollars a month," a third user shared.
A different user commented: "This should be illegal. Absolutely not. You're sharing one bathroom with the whole entire floor? Does everyone schedule their showers and number twos? I just cannot with this."
"That's a jail cell," a fifth user remarked.
Newsweek reached out to @realtoromer via email for more information.
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Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Melissa Fleur Afshar is a Newsweek Life and Trends Reporter based in London, United Kingdom.
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