Vesteda tenants’ living experience affected by coronavirus

Due to the measures introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus, many people are spending more time at home and are also working from home more frequently. Vesteda wanted to know more about the living experience of its tenants in this difficult situation. Vesteda sent more than 5,000 tenants a survey questionnaire; the response rate was more than 22%. What did we find out? That tenants are indeed working at home more, that they appreciate outside spaces and supermarkets in the neighbourhood, and that they have more problems with nuisance due to noise and their neighbours.

Around 63% of our employed tenants said that they had been working from home more frequently since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. More than half of those with jobs were working from home for more than two days a week. The survey revealed that 14% of our tenants missed having a room they could use as a home office.

Happy with what you have

In the survey, we asked our tenants for their positive and negative experiences due to the government’s measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus. One surprising fact to emerge from the survey was that Vesteda tenants still managed to come up with more positive points than negative ones. In a time in which lots of people are spending more time at home and could complain more than ever about the nuisance in and around their homes, it seems that many people are simply happy with what they have. Lots of our tenants cite the presence of outside spaces, the closeness of supermarkets and green areas as positive points for their current rental homes.

Looking to move house?

We also asked our tenants whether they were possibly looking to move house. Around 27% of the respondents to the survey said they had started looking harder at moving house over the past few months. The need to move house had increased. These tenants find their current homes too small, too cold, too warm or too expensive. They miss having a room they can use as a home office or outside space, or they are having more problems with their neighbours. More than 17% of the respondents were more bothered by their neighbours than previously. One respondent gave a very clear answer when asked if he wanted to move: “I don’t want to move, but I do want my neighbours to move”.