For many years, the private rented sector was associated with students and young professionals. Demographic changes, reduced levels of social housing, and the rising cost of buying a home has meant that older people are now more likely to find themselves privately renting. In 2023, nearly 867,000 households in the private rented sector were headed by people over 55, an increase of 70% since 2011, compared to a 20% total growth in such households[1]. If current trends continue, one in four older people could be privately renting by 2040[2]. Despite the distinct challenges related to affordability, health, and insecurity faced by older people, there has been relatively little research into their lived experiences. This case study assesses the first-hand perspectives of older tenants interviewed for this research.
Moving to the private rented sector often followed a stressful life event, most often a relationship breakdown in later life, which sometimes left them without assets, support, or stability.
Women especially found themselves with their housing choices constrained. Even if they came out with a share of housing equity, buying somewhere else was not an option due to irregular or low income, and sometimes age, making a mortgage unattainable.
The council housing that many had known when they were younger and thought they might be able to rely on if they ever needed it was equally unavailable.
One tenant was living in social housing when his relationship broke down. Despite his need to move out, the council did not consider him a priority while he was living at his housing association property. He could not move out without having somewhere else to live. As well as finding it hard to rent somewhere he could take his dog, he found communication with the agent a struggle due to their reliance on email.
For many, the relationship breakdown was emotionally traumatic as well as financially damaging, with lasting, perhaps permanent, consequences for their housing circumstances.
For others, a move to the private rented sector was part of a more positive journey, particularly when connected with new relationships, or a move to a property type and location that enables new opportunities.
Regardless of the circumstances that brought them to renting privately, many tenants were happy with where they live. They found the rent manageable, especially with housing benefit, and some had been in the same place for a considerable time. Others had no real concerns about security, often because their landlords were well established in the local area, had many properties and were seen as being unlikely to need to sell up.
Landlords and agents were said to be responsive to repairs, and some had dealt with other tenants causing anti-social behaviour. There were examples of tenants being supported to move from one flat to another to help meet their needs. Some had ground-floor flats, ramps, walk-in showers, grab rails, and mobility scooter access, and occupational therapists had provided aids like bath stools and raised chairs. One tenant living in a block of flats reserved for older renters, had a range of adaptations and a council monitored alarm system. He is confident he will be able to stay in the property for the long term, despite declining mobility.
Another tenant found the company of neighbours living in the same block has helped him adjust to living on his own, providing a source of support when he was going through treatment for cancer.
Like other tenants, older renters appreciate being able to decorate, garden, and arrange their homes for their own enjoyment. It enables them to feel at home and express their identities.
After spending much of her adult life caring for her dad and then ‘living-in’ while working at a care home, another tenant was gradually assembling the furniture, fixtures and fittings in the home she hoped to spend the rest her life in.
A couple were so encouraged by the reassurance their landlord gave them about their security of tenure, telling them “it’s your home, treat it as such”, that they invested in the property to provide a space that had a positive impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
