There are wide variations in the type of landlord that tenants have, their relationship, and the impact on their lived experience and health and wellbeing.
Security of Tenure: Tenants’ security of tenure varies; trust, pragmatism, and stability aid wellbeing, while landlord changes, Section 21 notices, and precarity fuel anxiety.
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Identity and home: A sense of home can help tenants thrive, and depends on personalisation, pets, gardens, community, and security; restrictions, instability, and stigma undermine identity and wellbeing.
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Housing Journeys: Private renting has many types of housing journey; frequent moves and insecurity persist. Life events can trigger downward or upward trajectories, shaping financial strain, wellbeing, and a search for stability.
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Relationships: Landlords can feel stigmatised and believe recent legislation favours tenants. They emphasise collaborative approaches like education, peer support and initiatives such as Safe Suffolk Renters.
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From Homelessness to Stability
A family with three children were made homeless after being evicted from a caravan park, due to year-round residency restrictions they had not been made aware of. They were placed in emergency housing, describing the experience as traumatic. On top of being crowded into one room, they were subjected to CCTV surveillance and room searches. Their children’s education suffered, and stress-related eczema kept the father off work.
There are wide variations in the type of landlord that tenants have, their relationship, and the impact on their lived experience and health and wellbeing.
Positive, often supportive relationships with their landlords were common. Having their landlord tell them ‘It’s my property, but your home’ was often deeply appreciated and reflected their own thoughts on the relationship.
Long-standing relationships might result in landlords not increasing rents, or tenants assuming more responsibility for minor repairs. Tenancies sometimes arise from pre-existing personal relationships, potentially offering more security but creating discomfort when addressing repairs or improvements.
A couple of tenants got on well with their landlord, who they did not know before, but felt they may have taken advantage of the good relationship to constantly put off doing repairs and making improvements.
Problems often occurred when a landlord changed. An older tenant had a long-term and friendly relationship with their landlord but found when a relative took over, they lacked the same care and consideration which made them feel insecure. When a new landlord took over an HMO, they tied the improvements that were needed to substantial rent increases.
Others encountered dismissive or unresponsive attitudes from landlords who seemed determined to emphasise their own sense of power and the tenant’s precarity. Tenants could feel looked down upon and stigmatised.
The most common complaint was a lack of response to repair requests, while some were hesitant to even raise the issue, fearing rent increases or eviction. Concerns were raised about lack of respect for boundaries with unannounced and intrusive visits. In one case, a landlord who had recently taken over a property used threatening and discriminatory language when the tenant raised issues of persistent mould, leaks, broken fixtures, inadequate heating, and pest infestations.
Several experiences emphasised the connection between poor housing conditions, low income, social exclusion, and the pronounced power imbalance between some tenants and landlords.
Some tenants had little or no contact with their landlords, interacting solely with management agents. Some reported inconsistent levels of service, with a lack of response to repair requests the most frequent complaint and some had no out of hours service, leaving them stranded outside already restricted opening hours. One tenant noticed a wide variation in the service from agents during viewings, with standards increasing in proportion to the cost and quality of the property. Other tenants found their agents professional and responsive, helping them move to more suitable properties, dealing with anti-social neighbours, or responding well to repair requests. While tenants were happy about agents conducting inspections, a few felt they were too frequent, intrusive, or undertaken with a lack of empathy, undermining the notion that the tenant’s property was their home.
Several participants from the Roma community described being registered by agents who then failed to contact them to offer them any viewings. They said that this was a very commonly shared experience within the community.
Joint tenants meeting online must build and manage new, trusting relationships, depending on each other’s plans for their security of tenure as well as landlords. Tenants in HMOs often have little choice about who they share with and while some report good relationships, several experienced nuisance or feared for their safety due to another resident’s actions. Many tenants had good relationships with neighbours in their block of flats, some finding great support during times of illness. They appreciate the friendly relations but also the respect for privacy. Others have experienced nuisance due to drug use, criminal behaviour, noise, pets, and lack of cleanliness, sometimes increasing anxiety and feelings of insecurity.
Support from family and friends living nearby, or local institutions and networks can be important to give tenants a sense of community. Community cafes, toddler groups, or top-up shops[1] that also give access to advice and support were important for several tenants. Others found support from groups representing different communities and specialist charities.
Safe Suffolk Renters’ valuable resources and advice will help you rent your home with confidence.
Our research collected more detailed information on key themes which are illustrated with case studies.
Tenants’ security of tenure varies; trust, pragmatism, and stability aid wellbeing, while landlord changes, Section 21 notices, and precarity fuel anxiety.
Private renting has many types of housing journey; frequent moves and insecurity persist. Life events can trigger downward or upward trajectories, shaping financial strain, wellbeing, and a search for stability.
A sense of home can help tenants thrive, and depends on personalisation, pets, gardens, community, and security; restrictions, instability, and stigma undermine identity and wellbeing.
Landlords can feel stigmatised and believe recent legislation favours tenants. They emphasise collaborative approaches like education, peer support and initiatives such as Safe Suffolk Renters.
[1] University of Suffolk. “Ipswich’s Top Up Shops Delivering Vital Community Support, New Research Finds.” University of Suffolk, December 2, 2024. https://www.uos.ac.uk/about/news/ipswichs-top-up-shops-delivering-vital-community-support-new-research-finds/.
