Older tenants fear being evicted as rents rise

Reply to the comment left by northern landlord at 18/09/2023 - 16:39
And if you eliminate the 'non-professionals' from the market you restrict choice across the market; both for students, young adults and retired people.

It ought to make more financial sense for elderly people to live with other elderly people if that's what they want, or rent rooms to young people if that's what they want or if they need assistance due to age or infirmity.

Reply to the comment left by Teessider at 18/09/2023 - 15:35
The whole housing 'system' aint fair no matter what end of the scale you are on. Its pitting LL against tenants and its all getting toxic....

I understand what you are saying...but the LL in reality rents ultimately to the person who is most financially viable.

If a LL takes on a a benefit tenant or pensioner, they know their income has the potential to be capped in essence, and that there is the potential at some point the rent may increase to more than what state benefits pay.

For the purposes of this article the reality is the same if you are a young or older tenant the outcome is the same. If your income doesn't match the rent outgoings then something has to give but ultimately the tenant CAN only be the one that should take responsibility to address this.

Why is it now perceived as the only option has to be action by the LL to evict people?

If you cant afford the rent then you have to look for somewhere else cheaper etc. You may not like the alternative (shared house) but its better than being homeless surely? If you are an older person (in this article example) the chances are the LA will have a duty of care to offer you something if you cannot find something of you own by defualt of your age coming under the 'vulnerable' category that in turn triggers the 'duty'. Health concerns/issues come into play too.

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 18/09/2023 - 16:49
This is true but if elderly people owning their own homes were able to rent a room to individuals from more than one family they'd probably be better off. E.g. if they are providing lodging to students from more than one family.

And the same could apply if they were renting but able to sub-let to recover rent payments without falling foul of the licensing rules for HMOs. Elderly people are often vulnerable just because they are living alone.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 18/09/2023 - 15:46
The Rent a Room scheme allows two lodgers, related or not.

Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 18/09/2023 - 16:49The housing system in the U.K. is fine. It’s the population system that’s broken.

Too many people, too few houses.

There ain’t many problems in this world that wouldn’t be solved by halving the population.

Reply to the comment left by Teessider at 18/09/2023 - 20:41
And never a more true word spoken ! I've said for 10 -20 years the UK isn't meant to withstand this many people, it's a tiny little island but no one saw what was coming. It's ok being nicey nicey welcome to the UK but everyone sees it as a soft touch and they are not wrong. The coffers have been bled dry and now desperation has taken over hence the 'lets hammer the landlords ' stance. Councils are going bust , there's not enough dough to go around due to being nicey nicey to all and sundry who rock up for their freebies having paid absolutely naff all into the economy, is it any wonder why there's no money swilling around. Carry on accepting those who arrive on boats and things will only get worse but imo it's way too late anyway, everywhere you look the system is beyond repair. It's now just Brittain, forget the Great.

Reply to the comment left by Teessider at 18/09/2023 - 20:39
Is that so? If so maybe I misread it. I read it as up to £750 a month tax free, you can rent out a room of your house, or a floor of your house. But I read it as only members from one family and if I misread it maybe others did too. I've never actually rented out a room under the rent a room scheme.

But what I have done is care for elderly parents and help with the care of elderly neighbours. One of the issues with elderly people is that they are often lonely but living in houses with extra bedrooms. And sometimes they have to pay for care that only turns up for 15 minutes twice a day. Or they have to pay for people to live with them. When in reality the cause of their loneliness is that they are living on their own rather than renting out rooms to a lodger.

How crazy is that.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/09/2023 - 10:24
Oh...and purely by coincidence I just received an email from Spareroom that says

"Government recently announced that the fines for renting a property to someone who isn't allowed to rent in England are to dramatically increase at the start of 2024, so it's more important than ever to make sure you understand the rules. "

Not exactly making it easy to put a roof over someone's head are they?

Whether you are a host considering hosting someone in your own home or a landlord considering renting out a home, is it really going to work out if you're treated like a drug dealer?

Reply to the comment left by PH at 18/09/2023 - 22:24
We have wandered off topic here but you are right when you say that the Government is seeking to scapegoat landlords yet more. You might have seen on the telly over the last couple of days there have been reports on “sky rocketing” rents even though they have barely kept up with inflation nationwide and the poor state of PRS housing with a couple of bad examples that implies they are typical of the sector. There has been mention of the shortage of places to rent but no analysis of why this should be. Nowhere is the landlords view represented. It is being done for a reason, I wonder what motive is behind further stirring up of anti-landlord sentiment? Are some sort of “emergency” measures in the pipeline to punish the evil doers?

Reply to the comment left by northern landlord at 19/09/2023 - 12:23
The original post says "Anxiety about being able to pay to stay where they live was reported among many of the respondents, all of whom were 65 and over."

The post is about fear amongst elderly people of their ability to pay to stay where they live.

So what's stopping them taking in a lodger to help them pay their rent? And how could that be facilitated by Councils whilst safeguarding the elderly people? How might the tax system encourage it as opposed to penalising elderly people for doing it? If the property is mortgaged either as a BTL or a lifetime mortgage how could that be done without the lender having a problem?