The silver renters
More retirees are choosing to rent and there are benefits, says Fred Redwood
We associate renting with busy 20 or 30-somethings who relocate regularly while building their careers and saving to get a foot on that elusive housing ladder. so it’s surprising to see research this week, from lettings network countrywide, showing that one in every 12 private rental sector tenants is a pensioner.
these older members of ‘generation rent’ are not only found in the open property market but also in specialist retirement developments, where renting has never been so popular.
‘enquires are up 16 per cent and we have created 25 per cent more new tenancies since 2014,’ says Gillian Girling, of Girlings Retirement Rentals ( girlings.co.uk). ‘People like renting because it gives them control: everything is paid upfront and relatives are spared the hassle of selling when they pass on.’
Many of today’s pensioners rent out of necessity, rather than choice. according to the office for National statistics, while the divorce rate has fallen among the rest of the population since the Nineties, among people aged over 60 it has risen. When a marriage breaks up, one partner is likely to be homeless and, at 60-plus and unable to find a mortgage, renting is the obvious solution.
others are also still suffering the fallout from the recession and renting is their only option.
then there are the 1.2 million British-born people living in other eU countries who often decide to return when their health fails.
alan Guinn, a retired customs officer, lived in spain with his wife for 15 years after he retired. When she died and alan became seriously ill, he came back to the UK for medical treatment.
Following his recovery, alan found an apartment at Brunel court in Portishead, somerset, through Girlings. ‘Renting on an assured tenancy gives me security and i’m so relaxed living here,’ says alan, 75.
Girlings has properties in a wide range of developments with average rents of £700 to £750 a month. Management fees are included and annual rent rises are capped to the Retail Price index.
anchor has retirement rental properties ranging from single bedroom studios to bungalows in 700 locations countrywide. ‘Many of our residents can afford to rent in areas such as central London, where buying a property would be unthinkable,’ says Yasmin Galbraith, of anchor.
some people use renting as a way of testing out retirement developments. ‘they often want to see if life on the development suits them,’ says Guy Mossop, of cognatum, who rent out homes for between £1,500 and £2,500 per month ( cognatum.co.uk).
eleanor Bruce recently moved to cognatum’s Bearwater site in Hungerford. ‘i needed to move quickly and renting was by far the simplest way of doing so,’ says eleanor, 78, who lived for several years in cannes, in the south of France and now rents a property for £1,300 a month.
the oft- repeated argument against renting is that it is ‘money down the drain’. in answer to that, Platinum skies ( platinumskies.
co.uk) offers a scheme which is a hybrid of equity release, investment and rental.
it is building new homes to part- buy, part- rent, allowing access to capital to help fund the homeowner’s retirement. completion of its first 1,000 homes is scheduled for this summer.