Squatter converted a boarded up public toilet into a cosy home with all the fittings.

A urinal had been given an upgrade and was being used as a bed and electricity had been illegally diverted from the mains supply to power a cooker, fridge and microwave.

The occupants are believed by Harrow Council to be Romanian, though no one was at the property when council and police officers used bolt cutters to enter the building.

The disused public toilet in a single storey 1960s block in Whitchurch Lane had been boarded up and is due to be auctioned on Wednesday February 13.

Council officers gained entry on Wednesday February 5 after it emerged people had been living in the former toilet block and had installed all the comforts of a modern flat.

A double mattress was pushed into the corner of what had been the men’s urinal.

Nobody was at home when the innovative residence was entered, but papers examined by police at the scene suggest the occupants were Romanian.

Councillor Susan Hall, Conservative leader of Harrow Council, said: “This was a public convenience, but it was not mean to be quite that convenient for the squatters who have evidently turned into a one bedroom flat. What this shows is that the pressures of Eastern European migration are rippling out into suburbia. People may be desperate to resort to these measures, but this is a building the council needs to sell to put money into services. As it is, the taxpayer is going to be left spending more than a penny to repair the damage done at this site.”

The possessions were put in a dry container by police and the property was boarded up by Harrow Council.