Bill Pender’s short term rental became his long term home

Bill Pender, 84, has been renting his home in Townfoot Court in Brampton, Cumbria for twenty years. The move was originally supposed to be temporary. Bill and his wife, Margaret were living in a small rural village between Penrith and Carlisle when Bill was told he needed a triple heart bypass. Margaret didn’t drive so the couple decided to move somewhere with easy access to shops and local amenities to make life easier following the operation. They chose Brampton because Bill’s brother and sister-inlaw lived nearby and they liked the area. They went to view a bungalow they were considering buying but it needed a lot of work and Bill wasn’t well enough to tackle such a big renovation job. However, the estate agent told them she had another property on her books which might be suitable although it was a rental and not for sale. They decided to take a look. Townfoot Court is an old farmstead which was converted into twenty-eight individual properties in the early 1990s. The property Bill and his wife viewed was a small two bedroom cottage with a garden which was essential as the couple had a pet dog at the time. They liked the cottage and its location a few minutes walk from the town centre so decided to rent it for the short term while Bill recovered from his operation. Thankfully the operation went well and within six months Bill was fully recovered, but the couple decided to stay put. Bill explains, “Although we hadn’t planned to stay long term we enjoyed living in the cottage. We had everything we needed, no responsibility for the maintenance or upkeep and we could rent on an assured (lifetime) tenancy with Girlings Retirement Rentals giving us security of tenure, so we thought, why move again? “Twenty years down the line and I still enjoy living here. There’s a nice community which is important, especially since I sadly lost my wife a few years ago. Many of us have lived here a long time and we all get on well. We don’t live in each other’s pockets, but we look out for each other and that suits us all.” Bill has thrown himself into Brampton life. He volunteers for Brampton’s Visitor Centre which he enjoys immensely. The centre is completely manned by volunteers and the team have a lot of fun together while advising over ten thousand visitors a year about the local area. Bill still gets out dog walking too, he no longer has a dog of his own but walks his neighbour’s West Highland Terrier several times a week which suits them both as his neighbour can no longer walk very far and Bill enjoys getting out and about. He says, “I’d certainly recommend renting, it takes all my worries away - if anything needs fixing I just have to pick up the phone and it’s put right. As you get older you don’t want to be worrying about maintaining a home and garden. “Some people are concerned that renting is dead money but I think I’m better off financially. When my wife and I sold our previous home we were able to use some of the capital from the house sale to enjoy ourselves and do things we’d been looking forward to in retirement like taking holidays abroad.” Bill’s children asked if he would consider moving nearer them as he got older but he is very happy and settled in his life at Townfoot Court. Renting on an assured tenancy gives him the reassurance he can stay in his home for as long as he wishes, and Bill has absolutely no intention of moving anywhere else.