Free Instant Online Valuation in just 60 seconds

There Are More Retired Renters in the UK than Ever Before

  • 8 years ago

There Are More Retired Renters in the UK than Ever Before

Landlords don’t usually expect their tenants to be retired; they usually expect young professionals or families to rent their properties instead. Research by the National Landlords Association, however, paints a different picture.

It’s seems there’s been a steep rise in the number of retired tenants – 220,000 since 2012, in fact, a rise of 13%. Most of these leisurely renters are in the south east, but only 3% are in London, which seems to be the preserve of the younger generations.

Missing a trick

Private landlords are missing out on some great opportunities here, though. Although the number of retired renters looking for homes has risen by 13%, the number of landlords who say they’re willing to take them on has halved – 19% to 9%.

There are sensible reasons for this reluctance; the stability older tenants offer may be outweighed by their increasing vulnerability as they get older.

However, people are living in good health for longer than ever and so the golden period of retirement may well mean a decade or more of stable health and monthly rental payments.

As the demand for rental properties grows within this demographic, it seems odd that landlords aren’t taking advantage of it. Some worry that there won’t be enough properties free to keep up with the number of retired renters, especially as the private rental sector grows in popularity, as is expected to happen.

Age is just a number

Smart landlords can think ahead and target their properties towards this age group, filling the market gap. Of course there are some risks with it – the vulnerability and health issues being the biggest – but all demographic groups carry risks. Young professionals get head-hunted and leave town, families have more children and either upsize or buy.

Whatever happens, there’ll always be new tenants waiting to move in, especially ones from this older demographic group. All indicators point to the group growing in size, so landlords need to think seriously about opening their doors to the grey pound!

Compare listings

Compare