Landlords - Attitudes towards age-friendly adaptations in the private rental housing sector

Abstract

A large part of the private rental housing stock in Flanders, Belgium, is not adapted to older people's rising desire to age in place. This puts older private renters in a vulnerable position as it is unclear, based solely on Flemish policy, which elements of the dwelling they are allowed to change. Therefore, this paper studies Flemish landlords' attitudes towards age-friendly adaptations in the private rental housing sector. Exploratory interviews with five landlords were conducted by (interior) architecture students, using their designs of agefriendly adaptations as boundary objects to stimulate conversation. The results suggest that finances, empathy and cultural norms are influential factors on landlords' attitudes, as well as background and past experiences. Particularly, landlords’ negative attitudes often stem from trying to protect their own well-being. Thus, to design impactful age-friendly adaptations, both the tenant’s and landlord’s well-being should be taken into account.