Rise of the retired renter: ‘I can’t compete with younger tenants’

Mary Vincent will soon face a grim choice: food or warmth. The 75-yearold survives on the basic state pension, housing benefit and pension credit – the vast majority of which is spent on rent for her one-bedroom house in the South West.

“I can just about manage, but I have no wiggle room at all. I really will have to decide if I want to eat or be warm,” she said. Ms Vincent ( a pseudonym), who is battling cancer, expects a drastic jump in her gas and electricity bills when her fixed contract comes to an end in June.

Her monthly rent is already £ 180 more than the state support she receives and she expects it to rise in the near future. If it does she will have to find somewhere else to live.

The timing could not be worse for the retiree to tackle the “Wild West” of the rental market, but she fears that will soon be the case. “Every rental property available is so expensive, and I can’t compete with other tenants. My little dog is my only company, but in the last 18 months I’ve only seen one rental property that allows pets and it was unaffordable,” she said.

The pensioner belongs to a growing generation of retired renters who face frightening housing insecurity and financial hardship.

Soaring house prices have eroded the prospect of home ownership for many in the UK, and there has been a steady rise in renters of all ages in recent decades. Those, aged 35 to 44, are now three times more likely to rent than 30 years ago, according to the English Housing Survey.

One in 20 people, aged over 65, now rent from private landlords.

Catherine Foot of Phoenix Insights, a think tank, warned pension support and tenant rights fell short of supporting retired renters.

Ms Foot said: “It brings huge risks if the right sort of safeguards are not in place, the biggest being a financial risk. The state pension assumes no long-term housing costs and so if this has to be stretched to pay for private rent then it soon becomes inadequate.”

Tenant demand has boomed since the pandemic struck and a shortage of lets has triggered huge price rises. Asking rents outside London were up 11pc year- on-year in the first three months of 2022, according to property website Rightmove.

Meanwhile, the state pension rose by just 3.1pc last month.

“We also don’t typically have long tenures in the UK, so those moving into retirement with the risk of being evicted will really struggle to compete with younger tenants if they need to find a new home,” added Ms Foot.

A third of current renters still expect to be paying rent in retirement, according to recent research by Phoenix Insights. This is equivalent to 11 million people.

Ms Foot added: “Millions of people will need to put more money aside for housing costs in later life.

“Renting in retirement is likely to be difficult for many, as it is often associated with higher ongoing living costs than paying off a mortgage.”