Retiree with Large savings and low income - possible to rent?

Tenant Discussion
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Once Renters Rights Bill goes into effect in May 2026, will a tenant with large savings but no employment income be able to rent ?

Here is my situation. Can afford to buy a place of my own but prefer to rent. Single, no family, may go away to another country, don’t want the commitment of property ownership.

Im a lazy procrastinator. Was on a good wage but preferred frugal living, so rented a cheap flat for couple decades, never missed rent payment. Thought of buying but kept putting it off. Saved and invested in ISA, SIPP etc. Pressure got too much at work and decided to quit couple years ago

Have healthy multiple of living expenses in stock/bond index funds and cash - being single and frugal helps. My yearly interest and dividend income probably wont exceed £10,000. Most of the investments are optimised / tax sheltered in Accumulation units, so, hard to “show income”. In Taxable, I may go for low coupon gilts since individual gilts are CGT free. Not planning to take out my SIPP just yet.

My landlord doesn’t know I am not working. He may not care, I don’t know. But he wants to remodel my flat and sell it. He wants me to leave by Dec 2026, hard for him to sell with tenant. So I may need to look for a new place to rent later next year, hence my post. Or, should I sign a lease before May and have it in writing allowing me to pay rent in advance (illegal from May ?) ?

Spoke to several high street letting agents, they say it wont be an issue if I can show cash savings 30 x monthly rent which I can easily do. Oh, and landlord is happy to give good references, I am a boringly reliable tenant. No vices, parties, no default. No pets. yeah, boring. I am almost a government bond :slight_smile:

Been posting on various other forums but just discovered this one.

Thanks. Posted on Tenants forum, perhaps I need to cross post to Landlords forum.

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Any rent in advance pre may would need to be repaid so thats not an option.

I would not agree that 30 months rent in cash would be sufficient, that would run out very quickly…

Personally i would look at your assets and assign an assumed income based on 6% of their value to reflect returns and some drawdown of assets. So assuming you had £300k in cash, investments and pensions this would provide notional income of £18k, add on the state pension and any other incomes, and then determine affordability from there. I dont use set multiples as depends on circumstances but typically allowable annual rent would be in range of 30-40% net income.

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I would agree with Richard that 30 months rent in cash deposits would not on its own be enough for me. £10k a year is not enough to rent a property and live, so I would want to see your plan of how you propose to increase this and when.

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I am of the belief that rent in advance is still acceptable, but the landlord cannot request it nor make it any part of the condition of the tenancy. It must be solely down to tenant initiating it.

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@Mark10 OR and nrla disagree

Best

‐—-

From OR blog “Rent in Advance Rules Under the Renters’ Rights Act Explained”

Can tenants choose to pay up front anyway?

No, the rules are very strict. Section 5 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 will be amended to include anti-avoidance measures, which are similar to those used to ban rental bidding. Landlords and letting agents must not:

accept a prohibited pre-tenancy rent payment from a tenant, guarantor, or any other “relevant person”
invite or encourage a relevant person to make such a payment
use a third party to get around the rules, including accepting rent from a third party or encouraging a third party to pay

Even if a tenant offers to pay several months’ rent upfront, you are not permitted to accept it. Under the Tenant Fees Act, a “relevant person” includes the tenant and anyone acting on their behalf, such as a guarantor.

Failure to follow these rules can result in a financial penalty if a local authority determines beyond reasonable doubt that the landlord has breached them.

Nrla page ‘Renters Rights act managing payments’ says same

If a landlord accepts rent at this stage, even a voluntary payment, it breaches the Tenant Fees Act, meaning the payment may need to be returned. It could also lead to a civil penalty.

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Sorry, I meant after the tenancy agreement has been signed and tenancy started, I believe it may still be possible, provided it is not a condition set by the LL, and the tenant has solely initiated it.

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Thanks all, particularly Richard and David. Much appreciated.

Details : Age 57. Single. No family. No vices. No smoking/drugs/partying etc. Actively prevent mold by regular ventilation. No pets.

Assets (UK) :
GIA (General Investment Accounts) : Cash : £120K (3 years worth of expenses) High Yield Instant access cash account.
GIA (General Investment Accounts) : World Equity Index fund : £280K
Cash ISA : £100K
Stocks and shares ISA : £300K : Same boring world Equity Stock Index fund and global bond fund hedged to sterling
SIPP deferred Drawdown : £800K in Money market plus global bonds hedged to sterling (hit million in SIPP - crystallised and took out 250K)

SIPP not to be counted as I am not planning to drawdown soon. If I do, I will take out max £12,500 pa taking another 15K from ISA and 15K by selling equities in Taxable to fund my £40K and replenish my cash buffer (simplified “bucket” strategy).

Total UK liquid net worth : 120+280+100+300+800 = £1.6 million. Can produce latest statements from banks and retail brokerages. Have all tax returns, old pay stubs etc. No wealth manager.

Also have plenty more funds in US in World Equity Index funds. Need to sort out pre-2008 non dom issues with “mixed capital”. Will likely use TRF (Temporary Repatriation facility : 12% tax this year and next) to bring them over to UK. But I pay UK tax on arising basis on global income.

Global Stock bond radio is 50/50 - even if equities crash 50%, I will still be well over £1 million.

I embrace simple living so looking to rent a 1 bedroom flat for £1000 pm or so. I see no need to live in a castle.

Source of funds : Worked decades in US tech company in business I.T, moved globally, stock options, stock grant, got a bit lucky and sank lots into ISA and SIPP with frugal living. Tired of corporate politics so left. Can get back to the same sort of business I.T work I used to do but I wasnt exactly curing cancer or running protein folding at Deepmind or pioneering quantum computing etc.

Can buy a property but I am reluctant. Buying in cash means its a substantial sum of money and I fear I may get cheated and buy a lemon - hidden mold problems etc, I dont know. I am not a hands on practical sort of person. Cant be bothered with roofwork, boiler breaking etc. If I had a family and children it would make sense. Can consider a 1 or 2 bedroom house but they are too small. 3 beds are too large. With my funds, I may be able to rent for life. I can also easily go away to Cyprus, Malta etc if the tax situation gets more punitive in UK. Buying seems like a commitment.

Well thats my situation. If landlords and estate agents insist I must have a professional PAYE job with a fancy title (Senior Manager, Head of Marketing, Principal engineer etc) then I wont pass. But if it is ability to pay rent for a normal modest 1 BR, I certainly can, for years / decades - unless SouthEast ends up like Monaco :slight_smile:

Thanks

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@Nightwatchman if you are concerned about not having skills to maintain a property you can pay somebody to do it (and homeserve or home insurance for emergency issues) - electrics or plumbing or roofing or boilers need to be done by qualified pros anyway.

If you are worried about buying a property with problems get a full survey done (and take a friend with you on viewings who’s owned a place and knows what goes wrong and what to look for). And/or buy something brand new or built relatively recently.

Worried about buying a lemon- do what you do when renting compare lots of different ones at around your budget to get idea of prices don’t buy the cheapest or the most expensive. If it would make sense if you had a family it still makes sense for you alone

Think about it like this. Spend 350k on a house. Suppose after 15 years it had lost 50% of its value (which would be a huge loss). You sell at 175k. Cost to you was 175k. If you are spending 12k pa now in rent then with inflation you will spend 175k in around 10-15 years. So cost is same over 15y. But beyond then your housing is free as you don’t have rent to pay. Suppose you live a further 30 years. Even without inflation that’s 30 x12k = 360k saved compared with renting.

And buying isn’t a lifetime commitment- you can try it and if you really can’t figure how to find someone to fix a boiler or a roof or to organise that stuff for you, or looks like you might lose value with price falling then sell up and go back to renting. But honestly it’s no harder than explaining to a Landlord or letting agent and they then find a tradesman. You just use checkatrade or mybuilder . Com or someone recommended or who you used before.

Good luck

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Why would you want to rely on a landlord to get things sorted rather than yourself? Just get tradesmen in.

Buy it when you need it, sell it when you don’t.

Get a full survey done when buying.

Theres a phrase….safe as houses.

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Thanks for taking the time for the thoughtful detailed replies.

I still maintain that buying a house is not trivial - there are transaction costs. solicitor fees, stamp duty etc. It restricts mobility - somewhat.

The other reason in my case is I will not get a mortgage (no job). In my GIA, I have spare cash but in order to buy a property in cash I may need to sell equities (tax consequences) and/or pull from ISA, SIPP which I am reluctant to do OR move my extra cash from US (again repatriation tax consequences). Should have got a mortgage when employed and interest rates were almost zero. Anyway no point looking back. In any case sinking a large amount of money into an illiquid asset seems questionable without strong ties to UK (family, high flying career etc ).

basically no commitment. Altho I love the country, the greenery, countryside etc, my friends here are busy with their lives and having stopped work, my social life is also reducing. I don’t have any health problems now but as I grow older, if I develop problems it may be better to go back to my original home country which has excellent private care, altho it has other problems. Here NHS has its own challenges … UK’s private healthcare is one of the best in the world - my favourite being Harley Street but if I really get a health problem I cannot keep going to Harley Street. And only the super rich can afford to live in Hyde Park or Marylebone. If something happens to me I probably want to pack my bags and quickly go back to my country of birth.

Honest truth is I really don’t know where I want to be. Thinking of Portugal, Greece, Cyprus etc.

Also, Adam Smith’s old Division of labour, specialisation, comparative advantage principle would say : let someone who knows how to be a landlord provide that service. For example at one time businesses had on premise software. Then cloud computing took over and now businesses use software as a service. I don’t buy a cow in order to get milk. Uber + public transport instead of owning a car. But I do appreciate that in UK, owning a home is aspirational and a mark of success, I get that. In Switzerland people rent into old age.

At 200K I could probably consider buying as it is not a lot of money and I have the cash. In my part of Berkshire, I can get new build flats but they drop in value like stale food. I have seen nominal price decrease from £200K in 2008 (£320K in today’s money) to £150K on rightmove last month. Period conversion flats hold their value and they are absolutely charming, but not sure how much to spend on heat/sound insulation. I am certainly no expert on period properties. Or I could go for a bog standard terraced house, and tbh I would be happy with 1 bedroom house but the 1 bedroom houses (few in number) are absolutely tiny - the claustrophobia !! 2 bedrooms are not much better. I want a living room and at least one bedroom both at least 15 ft x 10 ft plus some storage space but even that seems to be too much to ask. A decent sized 2 bedroom easily crosses 350K. I wish I could find a flat with those dimensions and service charge that wont go thru the roof and the flat will hold its value at least in nominal terms if not in real terms. Or perhaps buy a highly depreciated new build flat. How low can it go ?

which brings me back to renting. Back to my original question. Given my financial situation, if I can show 100 x monthly_rent in cash, would a landlord be happy to rent to me ?

The other question is whether I can afford rent forever. Well if rent goes up with inflation or even in a hyperinflation scenario, my portfolio of world equities and inflation linked bonds should hopefully take care of me since my ask is just a basic one bedroom place.

In the long run I agree owning will save me money but since I dont have heirs I only need to worry about Not running out of money. Whatever is left will go to charity. Owning a house makes sense if I had children, they are there to take care of me in old age and inherit the home after I am gone. For single people buying a home is like tethering myself to a lamppost. The flexibility sounds better, provided investment growth can ensure I dont go bankrupt.

Sorry not trying to be argumentative. Just wanted to express my thoughts. Sorry it became too lengthy.

So, regarding my original question : the answer should be affirmative ?

Cheers

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I would have thought most landlords would be willing to rent to you.

Regarding mortgages it isnt strictly true you cant get a mortgage without a job. Over 55’s can get retirement interest only mortgages of upto 50% so you would only have to put down half purchase costs and interest would be much cheaper than renting.

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The other consideration is security. Whilst you may value the flexibility of renting, the opposite side of the coin is that you could be uprooted with only a few months notice if the landlord decides to sell up, which I think many will do in the coming months.

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@Nightwatchman I’d think so but will help if you get done before 1 may so you can put down a significant £ rent in advance (won’t be possible from 1 may due to RRA) and/or give a guarantor.

Good luck

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Thanks Richard. Useful info that I may still be able to get a mortgage. Good to know, thanks.

David122 : good point about security, cheers. Since many landlords are selling up, who knows where the rental market is headed ? It appears that while trying to offer “protection” to tenants, govt policies may have made it difficult for both landlord and tenant, hardly a desirable outcome.

David240 : So, if I sign a new lease before May, will it be legal to do a “rent in advance” deal ? Of course if the landlord then decides to sell up say the year after then I am back to square1 I suppose.

I am going away for a couple of months early next year. I may not have time to look for and sign a new lease. Probably going to have a frank conversation with my landlord. He might be able to help.

For what its worth, all the letting agents I spoke to are very chilled on this. All of them said the 30 x monthly_rent condition should be enough and/or lettingshub check should pass.

Cheers

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@Nightwatchman yes Rent in Advance ok for now but banned from 1 may under Renters Rights Act 2025.

Lettings agents will be optimistic (just like they promise max rents to LLs to secure business) but sounds like they have same view as advice youve been given here that you shouldn’t have a problem. I’m sure you are a lot more attractive than others esp if you say you want to stay somewhere long term.

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Regarding mortgage for asset rich without a job - Found an interesting thread on reddit - coincidence that this post has just appeared in the last 24 hours.

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Got couple of new reddit threads in my feed - these are the reasons why I hesitate to buy a house. If heaven forbid, one ends up with these sorts of problems, it would be a nightmare. With me, I would end up with anxiety attacks.

Mid terrace : sound problems from neighbours. One reply also mentions weed problems :

Rat infestation due to neighbours :

Weed smell is ubiquitous these days… In my top floor flat, it is a problem in the summer with the folks downstairs smoking cigarettes and weed. I tolerate it but if it gets really bad, I can find another rental.

One solution is to buy a fully detached property but they are at least half million quid in my area. A cash purchase like that would be a good 20% to 25% of my savings/investments, not to mention the CGT in selling various funds/ETF and raiding my ISA. Doesn’t sound like a great idea financially. Also, a single person does not NEED a very large mansion. Given the housing crisis, it is better for society if such a home is used by a family. For me, ideally, if a friend - someone I can trust is selling a one bedroom or two bedroom place with a large living room (16 x 10 ) and one large bedroom (15 x 10) and some storage space, then I could buy. Otherwise its a bit of a gamble.

I am a pessimist. I do a lot of research before buying trivial things such as running shoes etc. With most products there is a return policy which I take advantage of if I am not happy with a product. Buying a house without someone to accompany me seems daunting.

On another note, I had posted on MSE forums too and a kind member there posted my rent query to property118 forum : Link in my next post (as I am not allowed more than 2 links in one post).

Sorry to drag this thread. But that’s it basically, just wanted to add this point and move on.

Thank you.

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You are a glass half empty person . i am a glass half full. My first house cost £4.5 k I sold for £10.5k 2nd house cost£25k sold £300k I could go on Always made money selling Better than renting. Get a survey done on a place you want ,if you want Never lost on a place . Bought 2 flats .7 years later sold for double.. Still after CGT . winner winner chicken dinner. You cannot take it with you

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By the time I decide to buy a house, the Sun would have engulfed the earth and the Universe would be shrinking in the Big Crunch :slight_smile: !

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Buy a Touring caravan or a motorhome to live in , you’ve got the financial resources and time to see the world (well maybe the UK and some of Europe …it is a lot of driving!)

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