Living alone in her rented home with just her cat and dog for company, Linda says she is “simply existing,” making constant sacrifices to pay her rent and bills.
The 68-year-old, who only wants to be known by her first name, told The i Paper that renting in later life is fraught with difficulties.
Linda, who lives in Wiltshire, has been renting the same one-bedroom property for 20 years. Her landlord usually raised the rent by £25 a month every two years, which Linda was happy with, but she says, following Covid, three or four years went by without a rent increase.
However, around 18 months ago, Linda’s rent suddenly went up from £550 a month to £680 a month – a rise of 23 per cent. Although Linda appreciates that she is lucky as the market rent for her home would probably be around £1,000 a month, the 68-year-old says it is difficult to cope with such a rise when you have a limited income.
Linda said: “At 68, I am still working part-time to supplement my pension. I do dog walking, dog sitting and a bit of gardening.
“But it is sporadic income and I am concerned about how long I will be able to carry on working as both these jobs are physically straining for me, especially due to my muscle pain and breathing difficulties.
“However, I know I wouldn’t be able to keep up my rent payments and bills if I wasn’t working, even though I live a very simple life without any luxuries and make lots of sacrifices.”
Linda is a medically retired senior NHS nurse. The 68-year-old worked as a ward sister and clinical nurse specialist for HIV and Aids, but retired at the age of 32 after becoming ill with glandular fever, which led to ME and she was virtually housebound for the next 14 years.
“At one point, I wasn’t expected to live long as I was yellow in colour, had lost so much weight and could not digest food.”
Linda did not resume any ability to work until she was 55. She was on incapacity benefit at the time, but at 55, the 68-year-old made the choice to give up her incapacity benefit and go to work. “I had to take a big risk to do it,” she recalled. “But I felt I was doomed if I sat at home watching daytime television and eating doughnuts.
“So I decided to dump the incapacity benefit and go to work. I worked self-employed in gardening. I am an ornamental gardener and do soft landscaping and make gardens look pretty.”
Linda is still working when she can, now, because of her financial situation, to boost her pension income.
Linda receives £921 in her state pension – the new state pension – every four weeks and she also receives a small NHS pension of £130 a month. She is not eligible for pension credit as she is just over the threshold.
However, with Linda’s state pension giving her around £12,000 a year and rent costing around £8,000 a year, she says rent and a food bill of about £5,200 mean her state pension is eclipsed by rent and food alone.
“I continue working because of my financial situation and because it gives my life meaning and purpose. After so many years stuck at home, it is good for my mental health to spend time outdoors.
“But I am now having to work out of necessity as if I didn’t work, I don’t know how I would pay my rent and bills and afford my pets.
Linda says she has to make sacrifices to afford her rent and bills. The 68-year-old has no luxuries and even cuts her own hair“Renting in later life is very hard and I have to save money where I can. I struggle to live within my income and I do this by not going on any foreign holidays or buying any new clothes. I don’t go for any cosmetic treatments and I usually just cut my own hair very badly.
“If I had not been ill and been able to work, I would have been able to buy a house and would have paid the mortgage off by now.
“The normal arc of life is to get married and have children but due to my illness, I have had half a century of trying to survive alone.
“I don’t have a partner or any family. My mum and dad both died in the last four years. My biggest stress is extreme isolation and loneliness.
“The reason I have chosen to have pets is because I don’t have a family. I try to limit myself to £100 a week for food and this includes the animals as well. Sometimes we end up sharing and tucking into a tin of tuna together, but they have their dedicated food and biscuits as well.
“I have coped with being a renter by cutting out all luxuries from my life. I only heat one room, watch FreeSat television, go to the library for my books and I don’t eat out. I spend the money I save on insuring and vaccinating my pets.
“I have to be disciplined to make my money go further. I do feel I am just existing and surviving and have to live a very sedentary lifestyle to conserve the money I have.”
Morgan Vine, director of policy and influencing for charity Independent Age, said: “Renters in later life are significantly more likely to experience poverty than those who own their home and worryingly, the number of older people in the private rented sector is set to increase.
“The UK Government has taken positive steps to support renters of all ages, such as the passing of the Renters Rights Act. As well as increasing notice periods and limiting up-front rent payments to one month in advance, this new law will ban ‘No Fault’ evictions in England, ending a policy that left many older renters fearful of losing their homes without warning.
“However, the cost of rent is still a major problem for older people living on low incomes. We are urging the Government to address this by uprating local housing allowance – the mechanism that decides how much housing benefit someone receives.
“Currently, two-thirds of older private renters who receive housing benefit do not get enough to cover their rent.
“This puts them at risk of eviction, and stretches their limited budgets to breaking point, forcing many renters to cut back on other essentials like food and heating. This urgently needs to change.”
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