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Tenure of household

  • Mnemonic reference

    TENURE_LANDLORD_CAT_H

  • Applicability

    Household

  • Type

    Derived Variable

Definition

A classification of whether a household rents or owns the accommodation that it occupies. For rented households, this variable also includes information about the type of landlord who owns or manages the accommodation.

Classification

Total number of categories 9

Code Name
1 Owned: Owns Outright
2 Owned: Owns with a mortgage or loan
3 Owned: Shared ownership (Part owns and part rent)
4 Owned: Shared Equity (e.g. LIFT or Help-to-Buy)
5 Social rented: Council (LA) or Housing Association/ Registered Social Landlord
6 Private rented: Private landlord or letting agency
7 Private rented: Other
8 Lives Rent Free
-5 No code required - comprises household spaces with no residents.

Source question or variables

This variable is derived from two questions on the household form on household tenure and landlord.

Household question 12: Does your household own or rent this accommodation?

  • Owns with a mortgage or loan
  • Owns outright
  • Owns with shared equity (for example, LIFT, Help-to-Buy)
  • Rents (with or without housing benefit)
  • Part owns and part rents (shared ownership)
  • Lives rent free

Household question 13: Who is your landlord? (Only asked of households who are renting)

  • Council (Local Authority) or Housing Association / Registered Social Landlord
  • Private landlord or letting agency
  • Other

Reason for asking

Information about household tenure and landlord (if renting) is extensively used by local authorities as input to local area profiles. The data are also used in the preparation of Housing Needs and Demand assessments and Local Housing Strategies, which are used by central government to inform resource allocation and are widely used in other sectors for equalities monitoring, targeting investment, and service planning and delivery.

England & Wales (2021) and Scotland (2011) comparison

This variable is broadly comparable with the Tenure of household variable produced by ONS for the 2021 census in England & Wales. ONS have included an additional classification for "Social rented: Other social rented".

This variable is broadly comparable to the one created for Scotland's Census 2011. An additional classification ("Owned: Shared Equity (e.g. LIFT or Help-to-Buy)") has been included for 2022 and the private rented classifications have been simplified. 

  • Mnemonic reference

    TENHUK11

  • Applicability

    Household

  • Type

    Derived variable

Definition

Tenure provides information about whether a household rents or owns the accommodation that it occupies and, if rented, combines this with information about the type of landlord who owns or manages the accommodation.

Classification

Total number of categories 11

Code Name
0 Owned: Owned outright
1 Owned: Owned with a mortgage or loan
2 Shared ownership (part owned and part rented)
3 Social rented: Rented from council (local authority)
4 Social rented: Other social rented
5 Private rented: Private landlord or letting agency
6 Private rented: Employer of a household member
7 Private rented: Relative or friend of household member
8 Private rented: Other
9 Living rent free
X No code required - comprises household spaces with no residents.

Source question or variables

LANDLORD (Primary variable)

SIZHUK11 (Derived variable)

TENURE (Primary variable)

TERMIND (Primary variable)

Scotland (2001) comparison

In the statistical bulletin for release 2A, the 2001 Census data published in 2005 was used, which has a revised allocation of the “living rent free” category.

Known Quality Issues

From the reported results, it appeared there was confusion when completing the Tenure question, as many believed they were renting from their council when they were actually renting from housing associations or private landlords following the transfer of housing stock in some council areas. This issue was particularly clear in six council areas – Glasgow City, Argyll & Bute, Eilean Siar, Inverclyde, Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway – where no council house stock was retained by the local authority, yet initial census counts showed many households recording their tenure type as rented from the council. In these council areas, the responses for ‘Rented: Council’ were changed to ‘Rented: other social’. Other council areas had partial housing stock transfers however, it was not possible to ascertain from the reported results those who answered the tenure question incorrectly. The numbers of incorrect answers in these council areas was believed to be much lower as only partial transfers had taken place, hence only the council areas seeing full stock transfers had their data amended. Further details on the analysis described above are provided in a separate paper published on the Scottish Government website. See: 2011 Census Housing Tenure Data: Quality Assurance

  • Mnemonic reference

    TENHUK

  • Applicability

    All occupied household spaces, UK.

Definition

This derived variable combines information from Questions 8 and 9 on the Census form.

Classification

Total number of categories 11

Not applicable category (X) comprises: All household spaces with no residents.

Code Name
0 Owned: Owned outright
1 Owned: Owned with a mortgage or loan
2 Owned: Shared ownership
3 Social rented: Rented from Council (Local Authority)/Scottish Homes/NIHE
4 Social rented: Other social rented
5 Private rented: Private landlord or letting agency
6 Private rented: Employer of a household member
7 Private rented: Relative or friend of household member
8 Private rented: Other
9 Living rent free
X Not applicable