A recent report expects older people living in the private rented sector to rise considerably over the coming years, where many ‘vulnerable’ older people are currently being ‘forced to live in awful PRS accommodation.’

Households aged 65-plus currently account for around 10% of all those living in the PRS, but their numbers are growing rapidly, as reflected by a recent report from retirement rentals specialist Girlings Retirement Rentals.

A separate survey by the National Landlords Association (NLA) also found that that the number of retired people in the UK moving into the PRS has increased by 200,000 over the last four years, with one estimate predicting that a third of over-60s could be living in private rented accommodation by 2040.

The charity Age UK have warned that these ‘awful conditions’ currently facing some older tenants must improve otherwise more people will fall victim to rogue landlords. This comes after calls to Age UK’s Advice Line, between 2013 and 2016, revealed that many older people who are renting at the bottom end of the market have endured bad experiences.

The majority of repeated failures were with regards to maintenance and repairs issues not being dealt with, as well as too many landlords refusing to allow the installation of aids and adaptations that older tenants require; like ramps or handrails.

Therefore Age UK is calling for urgent legal reform of the PRS to help strengthen the rights of older tenants, ensuring that all tenants are treated fairly and equally.

Charity Director of Age UK said: “Calls to our advice line show that some highly vulnerable older people are enduring grim living conditions in the private rented sector and this is truly shocking. No one should have to put up with such squalor at any age, but the idea that a chronically ill older person could be living on their own for weeks or even months with no proper heating, or cooking facilities or hot water is sickening.

“The law is far too feeble and the withering away of local environmental health services is making the problem worse. The upshot is that older tenants in the private sector are almost entirely reliant on the decency and professionalism of landlords and letting agents, and sadly this is leaving some at risk of neglect and in the worse cases of bullying and abuse.”

“As it is at the moment, the bottom end of the private rented sector is no place for a vulnerable older person, but if that is what we believe as a society we need to do something about it and create better alternatives.”

Protecting good tenants is always at the forefront of our minds at the TR Group, which is why we are now working in close partnership with the NLCEuk.co.uk. This month they have launched their very own national tenant repair reporting system, which allows tenants to make a formal written notification to their landlord about property repairs for free.

Taking the lengthy process away from local authorities, to let them get on with doing what they do best, the benefits to all UK landlords, agents and tenants are:

• VERY easy to use

• Enables tenants to prove they have formally complained about a property problem

• Allows landlords/agents to respond to the notice, to prove pro-activeness in getting rented property repairs sorted as soon as possible

• Stops spurious claims from a tenant; that they have reported a repair and the landlord has not responded and vice versa

• Offers tenants formal notification in writing and date stamped of complaint made

• Improves Landlord/Tenant relationships; e.g.
  Landlords can issue their tenants with a plastic ‘Bank card’ style NLCE Tenancy Emergency Card, which can be acquired from the NLCE  (See the Tenancy Card Here), which contains the landlords name and contact details. The tenant can then, at any point (or times specified), use the details on the card to report problems to their landlord. This also helps landlords to comply with their statutory need to provide their tenant(s) with contact details in the event of an emergency.

Please visit www.nlceuk.co.uk for full details on this new scheme.

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