Adults living with their parents, other relatives or friends in accommodation where they are not the owner or renter of that accommodation (nor their partner) and where the owner/renter is dissatisfied with the current accommodation.

The accommodation is insecure because such people have no legal rights to stay in their accommodation, with their ability to stay there depending on the views of the owner/renter (something which may well be problematic given that there is some dissatisfaction with the accommodation).

Depends on both age and who they are living with, with it being assumed that the risk is: 

• High if aged 25 or over living with non-relatives
• Medium if aged 25 or over living with relatives
• Medium if aged 16-24 living with non-relatives
• Low if aged 16-24 living with relatives

The situation is regarded as less satisfactory for those aged 25 and over than for those aged 16-24.  This is on the grounds that the vast majority of those aged 25 and over have reached a settled living arrangement, whereas those aged 24 and below are often still in the period of transition from dependent to independent living.

Clearly, the reasons for dissatisfaction will vary from household to household and some reasons will more directly relate to the insecurity of the housing than others.  The data available does not, however, provide any direct information on the reasons for dissatisfaction.

At any one time, around 180,000 adults, of whom around 50,000 are aged 25 or over. The estimated numbers are similar over the period of a year.^[1]

Of the estimated 4.3 million adults aged 16 and over in England living in ‘concealed households', an estimated 3.9 million are in accommodation which is not overcrowded.

The adequacy of the living arrangements for these people clearly depends on how satisfied both they and the head of the household are about the current living arrangements.  Whilst data on the individuals' views are not available from the survey, data on the views of the head of the household are available and it would seem to be a realistic assumption that, if the head of the household is dissatisfied, then there is a potential problem.  Of the 3.9 million, around 160,000 live in homes where the head of the household is dissatisfied with the current living arrangements,^[3] nearly all without dependent children.

Of the 160,000, around 115,000 are aged 16 to 24 and the other 45,000 are aged 25 or over.  Scaling up these English figures to Great Britain gives around 130,000 aged 16 to 24 and 50,000 aged 25 or over.

Survey of English Housing, averaging over the years 2003/04 to 2005/06

Medium - the estimated numbers are considered to be reasonably robust but the extent to which the owner/renter's dissatisfaction means that the housing is insecure will depend on individual circumstances and cannot be determined from the survey data.