Are you retiring this year? According to calculations by Legal and General more than 500,000 people will reach retirement age this year.
Retirement is an exciting new chapter in most people’s lives. The freedom from work can mean spending more time to spend with family and friends, taking up new hobbies, travelling more or even volunteering with a charity you are passionate about.
It’s also a time when many consider moving to a new location to start afresh or be closer to family. For an increasing number of retirees this means choosing to rent instead of buying, something most won’t have done since their younger years.
According to the Centre for Ageing Better (CfAB), the number of over-60s renting privately has risen from 254,000 in 2007 to 414,000 in 2017. And it predicts about a third of people over 60 could be living in private rented accommodation by 2040.
The CfAB said that not only had 200,000 older adults joined the rental market in the past four years, but “a growing number of older homeowners are choosing to sell up and rent in retirement”.
For many this is because they want to downsize from a larger family home and release capital to spend on their retirement. Or they want to move somewhere smaller and more manageable.
For others they simply want to move to a new area and they decide that renting is a good financial option for them. For instance, renting can be a more affordable way to move to some of the popular retirement hotspots such as coastal areas.
Renting can also be a good way to ‘test’ an area you’ve never lived in before to see if you like it. If you decide you don’t then it’s easier to move and rent somewhere else. If you’ve bought, it can be more difficult, not to mention costly. There is also stamp duty to consider if you are buying over a certain price bracket.
Whatever the reasons we’ve certainly noticed a growing interest in renting in our retirement developments over the past decade. Renting through us offers people a multitude of benefits but perhaps the one main benefit is our assured or ‘lifetime’ tenancies. Most of our properties come with assured tenancies which means people can stay as long as they wish. This gives them the same security of tenure as being a homeowner and is often one of the main reasons people choose to rent through us.
On the other hand most privately rented homes are rented on shorthold tenancies so this can mean a lot of uncertainty around how long the tenancy will last. Landlords effectively could ask someone to leave at any time after the initial six months. For older tenants this just isn’t practical. People want to know they can stay put as long as they wish.
One couple who have benefited from being able to move to their dream location are Keith and Teresa Davy. They have been renting a Girlings apartment in Homewest House in Bournemouth for over year since selling their previous property in Torquay. Discussing their new home Keith explains, “We love the location, it’s in a lovely area in Bournemouth near the shops and we can walk to the beach and into the town centre. The bus service is so frequent and convenient it’s like a taxi service. We couldn’t afford to buy the flat we’re living in, so renting has enabled us to live in an area we really like.”
Other benefits of renting through us include the social aspect of living in a retirement development. Neighbours will probably be of a similar age and most developments have communal lounges and gardens where those that wish to can socialise. Many developments also organise weekly social activities such as coffee mornings, bingo and film nights and outings to nearby attractions and restaurants.
The rent includes services and maintenance too so people can budget more easily and not have the worry about surprise bills that can come when you own your own home. Plus each development has an onsite manager that ensures the smooth day to day running of the development and there is a 24-hour Emergency careline in all apartments.
If you are retiring in 2020 and plan to move somewhere new, why not consider renting? We have properties available throughout the UK to suit all budgets so take a look at our website or give us a call on 0800 525 184 to discuss your requirements and budget and we’ll help you find a home to suit.
