The flat-sharing site SpareRoom.com has revealed it has 100,000 clients in their late 40s and early 50s on its books, and 35,000 customers in their late 50s and early 60s. I was not surprised to learn that older tenants are rising in number: many older house-hunters might be unable to get a mortgage due to their age, with renting the only option.
I always imagined I would own a home, spending my middle years at garden centres perusing water features, but I am a middle-aged tenant. Over the past few years, I have spent time sharing a home with people in their 20s, usually as a temporary measure, with all of us “between homes” and grateful for a place to stay.
A few years ago, my landlord went bankrupt and I was glad to share a house with a friend for a few months. Ryan, who was in his 20s, and I were at opposing ends of the domestic hygiene spectrum. He had never learned how to clean, while I had lived in my own place for years, developing my own standards. It was always going to result in a clash, but we worked it out and he is still one of my best friends.
A few years later, I shared with a contemporary from art school who had a spare room (I had just finished my master’s as a mature student). While we were housemates, I enjoyed listening to Bruno’s practice sessions (he’s a musician as well as an artist), and we shared the occasional meal. Admittedly, cleanliness issues occurred: Bruno was baffled by the concept of washing-up, so I took the view that washing a few more plates was hardly onerous. We swapped music and Bruno loaned me books.
My most recent flat-sharing experience was not so easy. Another art-school contemporary, a friend of a friend, was having difficulty finding a flatmate, which I thought odd, given that the house was quite nice, but I was pleased to find a home. She was also in her 20, and had mental health issues. Her behaviour could be complicated (she often became fixated on how much I ate) and, perhaps because of her relative youth, invited her mother to stay at least once a month.
But overall, my experience of flat-sharing with younger people has been a positive one. As a former music journalist, I enjoy contemporary music, and I suspect that this might help when sharing with tenants of a different generation.
My twentysomething flatmates have generally been mature and personable, not hellraisers – and I have always been accepted, not treated as a mother figure, much to my relief. In return, I do not view my younger flatmates as children; indeed, I often asked Bruno to turn the music up, not down.
- This article was amended on 21 June 2016. The picture on an earlier version was captioned as the Channel 4 show Cucumber; it is actually the Channel 4 show Crashing.
