Heba says she has been flooded with messages of people asking to move in during the heatwave
A woman living in ‘London’s coolest flat’ says she has been “shivering” before she got under her duvet – despite the record-breaking temperatures. Heba Sami, 38, said her four-bed basement flat has kept her cool due to scaffolding blocking out the sun getting let in through her windows.
Despite it reaching 36.4C in the UK this week her flat has not risen above 24 degrees Celsius – according to her thermometer. She was even able to wear full-length pyjamas under her duvet earlier this week.
Heba says she has been flooded with messages of people asking to move in during the heatwave. The freelancer and artist from Warwick Avenue, London, says: “I’ve had to literally, in the morning, open the windows at the side where the sun comes in, and in the afternoon, when it comes to the front of the flat, leave my patio door open to get the sun right through.
“It’s a basement flat and in addition to that it’s a large four-bed so when the sun shifts to one side it can’t reach the other side.
“By the time it reaches one side the other side cools. I was in my flat thinking it’s a heatwave and laughing at the fact I’m fully clothed in my duvet shivering. That was day one, the flat has been warming up a bit but the highest it’s gotten is 24 degrees.”
Heba moved back to the flat – which used to be her childhood home – to sell it, there is also very little furnishing to further create heat. Sharing her surprise at the low temperature on TikTok, Heba says her comment section has been filled with “never-ending memes” and people calling her a “show off”.
She “didn’t intend” for it to go viral, but commenters were quick to ask if they could move in for a few days to escape the heat. “The top comments are ‘you’re ill’,” she said.
“I’m like ‘okay, great’ but I’m still very hot outside the flat so I don’t think I’m ill and my mum is a doctor so I think I’d know if I was ill.
“The other comments are ‘when can we move in?’ And I’ve just been telling people to join the waiting list.”
