Tenants’ experiences of security and insecurity in private rentals, highlights emotional, health, and practical impacts of stable housing, landlord relationships, and risks such as Section 21 evictions.
Affordability: Tenants face varied affordability challenges, balancing rent with sacrifices, benefits reliance, arrears risks, and barriers to moving or homeownership despite budgeting efforts.
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Relationships: Tenant–landlord relationships vary widely, influencing security, repairs, and wellbeing; issues include power imbalance, agent responsiveness, discrimination, and community support networks.
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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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Market Pressures: Landlords feel stigmatised and worry about new regulations, tax changes, and rising costs. While some support fair regulation, others fear it will drive landlords out of the market.
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Housing Insecurity
A woman in her early forties had been living in a privately rented three-bedroom house with her three children for seven years. She previously lived with her partner in a two-bedroom council property and decided to leave secure and affordable council housing after the birth of the couple’s third child. The council advised that the wait for a suitable three-bedroom property could be up to three years.
Tenants’ security of tenure varies; trust, pragmatism, and stability aid wellbeing, while landlord changes, Section 21 notices, and precarity fuel anxiety.
Some interviewees had lived in the same rented home for decades – the longest nearly 50 years – while several others described long-term arrangements, having no indication from landlords their tenancy was at risk. For tenants with a history of homelessness or insecure housing, a stable and decent private rental property was a source of relief, supporting improved mental health, enabling better management of long-term health conditions, and allowing them to get on with important things in life. One felt the trusting relationship they had formed with the landlord was key to feeling secure – bringing with it a sense of achievement.
Others felt relatively secure and were conscious that things could change but tried not to dwell on it. Another said that, as with their work, they had always taken a pragmatic approach and though they really liked their present home, if they had to move, they were confident of finding somewhere else. A previous homeowner said that they do not get attached to ‘things’, even properties they owned. The quality of their home, location, lifestyle, or outlook on life often meant tenants put insecurity to the back of their minds – a bridge to cross if and when it happens.
Even for those with longstanding tenancies, a sense of insecurity was common – particularly when properties changed ownership or were passed to new family members. When asked about the connection between housing and their health and wellbeing, the most frequently raised concern was an ongoing or underlying feeling of insecurity, often fuelled by a lack of information from landlords or agents. This perception also stemmed from their own previous experiences, the experiences of others they knew, or stories they had heard. Tenants described feeling somewhere between a low level of anxiety, a ‘background hum’, to being very anxious.
Information the tenant has about the landlord’s circumstances can introduce a sense of jeopardy, long before any action is taken. Tenants, aware of their landlord having a terminal illness, getting divorced, considering selling, planning to move in themselves, or that the property condition meant they may need tenants paying higher rent. Some tenants recognise that they have placed their tenancy in jeopardy themselves, one by buying a pet when they are not allowed and another by withholding rent due to repairs not being carried out.
At the time of interview, five tenants had been served with Section 21 notices—each case with clear implications for health and wellbeing. These included a man in his sixties undergoing treatment following two cancer diagnoses, who reported significant stress and anxiety and at the time of interview was struggling to cope with being in temporary accommodation. A single mother with two children described severe anxiety on top of a hereditary heart disease shared with her son. She was confused about the advice she was receiving from her local council, compounded by not being able to speak with the same person. The most recent communication she had received was a text message with link to estate agents. Another single mother with two children, one of whom was disabled had spent her own money on renovating the property she moved into after being homeless and in temporary accommodation. The Section 21 was received shortly after a moratorium on eviction due to the landlord receiving an improvement notice from Environmental Health.
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 face varied affordability challenges, balancing rent with sacrifices, benefits reliance, arrears risks, and barriers to moving or homeownership despite budgeting efforts.
Tenant–landlord relationships vary widely, influencing security, repairs, and wellbeing; issues include power imbalance, agent responsiveness, discrimination, and community support networks.
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.
Landlords feel stigmatised and worry about new regulations, tax changes, and rising costs. While some support fair regulation, others fear it will drive landlords out of the market.
