Jan and seven of her friends all went househunting together, with the intention of splitting into two groups of four. When they viewed a nice, but expensive house, near their favourite pubs and clubs they decided to take it between them all. Because the house was "gorgeous" compared to the "dive" they'd previously lived in, the verdict was "we'll all bunk in together".

All eight young women were aged between 19 and 21 and were all working. There were two to a room; that meant sharing a bed for those in the two rooms with double beds. For those in the two rooms with a single bed, it meant taking turns sleeping on a camp bed on the floor.

The girls got away with this for 11 months and were never found out by their landlord. "The landlord didn't have a clue," Jan says, "When he called to collect the rent the others either hid in the kitchen or left the house for the evening."

However the cramped conditions didn't stop with resident number eight, the most that ever stayed in the house was 12; 11 females and a male, who had just started college and was looking for accommodation. "There was four in one of the rooms with a single bed at one time," she says, "three on the floor and one in the bed. Wherever you found a spot you lay there and that was it."

Eventually the 12 became seven after one month of 1930s style crampedness.

Jan says she will never live in such conditions again - but the alternative was a "dive". She says that the only advantage was that the house had a Jacuzzi - which they soon got bored of.

The disadvantages are lengthy: only comfortable seating for four or five people, it was crowded and noisy and clothes and food went missing.