The number of people over 65 sharing homes has tripled in the past decade, as rising rents and a lack of affordable housing force older renters into flatshares. According to online rental platform SpareRoom, the proportion of users aged over 55 has risen from 2.7% in 2014 to 7.1% in 2024.
Deborah Herring, 65, a retired religious studies teacher, is one of those turning to flatsharing. After living alone in a rented house near Banbury, she moved to London two years ago to share a two-bedroom flat with a couple in their thirties. Now she is moving into a four-bedroom flatshare in Bermondsey, south London, where she will likely live with people younger than her own children. 'I hate the idea of house-sharing – but I have no choice,' she says.
The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) forecasts that the proportion of over-65s privately renting will almost treble from 6% to 17% by 2040. Senior policy researcher Anna Brain says the current low rate is partly due to the right-to-buy policy introduced in 1980, which allowed many older people to buy their homes. However, those homes were not replaced, and younger generations face rising house prices and limited social housing.
Andreas Savva, 68, pays £800 a month for a mould-ridden house in east London. His ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory spinal condition, is worsened by the mould, forcing him to seek alternative accommodation. He previously lived rent-free in his brother's house but had to move out after his brother died without life insurance.
