Forced relocation and tenancy law in Europe

Tenants are in a vulnerable position in relation to investments by landlords in their homes. Both, overinvestment, resulting in gentrification, and underinvestment, resulting in deterioration, are processes that have been well analysed in studies on gentrification and rent control. Much less is known about institutions that seek to ensure a balance between overinvestment and underinvestment. Tenancy law may be one of these institutions. Based on a Europe-wide survey of tenancy law produced by the FP7 TENLAW project, this paper analyses the role of tenancy law in the legal positions of tenants towards investments by landlords in their properties. A special focus is on the position of tenants in urban renewal, especially since urban renewal may result in the relocation of current tenants through the force of law. The legal relationships between landlord and tenant are classified by four ideal typical positions — namely short-term contracts, in which security ends with the termination of the contract, long-term contracts, which provide tenants more security of tenure, but which have also provisions to terminate the contract for reasons of urban renewal, protected tenants, who can only be relocated if a suitable alternative dwelling is provided, and informal users, who cannot rely on the safeguard of a rental contract, but have some legal protection based on the European Convention of Human Rights.     

Competing visions: security of tenure and the welfarisation of English social housing

Recent legislation ending security of tenure for new council tenants in England may be considered emblematic of a US-style vision of social housing as a temporary welfare service, reserved only for the very poorest. But there is resistance amongst social landlords, many of whom remain committed to providing ‘homes for life’. Moreover, austerity-driven cuts mean that benefit-dependent households are increasingly refused social tenancies on grounds of affordability. The stage is therefore set for a battle over who and what English social housing is for. Drawing on large-scale qualitative research, this paper interrogates the implications of the mandatory extension of fixed-term tenancies (FTTs) by considering landlord and tenant experiences of the discretionary FTT regime in place since 2012. We conclude that the meagre likely benefits of FTTs, in terms of marginally increased tenancy turnover, are heavily outweighed by the detrimental impacts on tenants’ ontological security and landlords’ administrative burden.     

The performance of social landlords in Great Britain: what do we know and what does it show?

This paper examines the evidence concerning the performance of landlords within and between the two social housing sectors in Great Britain. It considers both the measured performance of landlords in the two sectors and the factors that appear to influence that performance. In doing so it discusses some of the broad issues involved in performance measurement in social housing before reviewing some of the previous work in the field that throws light on the factors that might be expected to influence landlords' effectiveness in the delivery of social housing services. The results of a limited empirical exercise that attempts to explain differences in measured performance of social landlords in England are then presented and interpreted. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of performance and of current approaches to performance measurement for social landlords.     

Public choice theory and rental housing: an examination of rental housing contracts in Ghana

This paper extends both the literature on rental housing in Ghana and the global literature on the critique of public choice analyses in terms of focus, methods and positioning. It argues that, contrary to the assumption that all housing policy changes are driven by internal national processes, in the case of Ghana at least, neither tenants (through their use of their greater numbers) nor landlords (through the use of their stronger financial and hence political power) exclusively influence housing policy. Both parties have some power, but landlords use theirs to change rents arbitrarily and decide whom to invite or keep as tenants, whilst tenants seek to use their power by lodging complaints with the state, albeit to little effect as the power of landlords is overwhelming. There is a strong basis to call into question the public choice argument that it is fair for landlords to extract windfall rent from tenants since their efforts or talents do not increase rent.     

‘Ma and Pa’ Landlords and the ‘Risky’ Tenant: Discourses in the New Zealand Private Rental Sector

Social constructions of what it means to let and rent housing are revealed in language and are intimately tied to housing outcomes for both landlords and tenants. This paper is concerned with the socially constructed identities of landlords and tenants in the private rental sector and how these are revealed in language. Fairclough's methods of discourse analysis coupled with Habermas' ideal speech situation and theory of communicative action are used to form an analytical framework for examining public debate and discourse on the private rental sector in New Zealand. It is argued that current discourses about tenants and landlords are the result of public debate and stereotypes that have failed to incorporate the experiences of tenants, and further that these stereotypes conceal the multiplicity of identities and motivations for behaviour of both landlords and tenants.     

Room Sharing in Sydney: A Complex Mix of Affordability,Overcrowding and Profit Maximisation

The shared housing sector is a growing private rental submarket. Researchers have sought to analyse the drivers of this growth, the benefits of shared housing for tenants, landlords and wider urban systems, as well as risks for tenants and local planning systems. Yet, there is limited research exploring the diversity of the shared housing sector. In particular, analysis of room or space sharing with non-related adults is lacking. This paper explores the characteristics, geography and impact of room sharing across Sydney. By analysing online accommodation listings this paper provides insights for policymakers seeking to monitor and regulate shared room accommodation.     

Struggles and opportunities at the platform interface: tenants’ experiences of navigating shared room housing using digital platforms in Sydney

Digital platforms have shaped the ways of navigating and occupying shared housing properties in the private rental market. Online platforms reconfigure the geography of housing searches and allow potential tenants to identify and enquire about shared properties while transcending local and national boundaries. Urban scholarship has viewed these platforms as real-time, fine-grained, big datasets for investigating housing markets. However, limited attention has been given to tenants’ experiences of using online platforms, and the extent to which these platforms facilitate access to housing. Drawing on interviews with tenants [n?=?35] in Sydney, this paper explores tenants’ experiences of searching, negotiating and securing shared room housing advertised on digital platforms. The findings highlight that shared housing digital platforms operate on the logic of peer-to-peer interaction between landlords and tenants via user-generated listings. These platforms allow tenants to compare rental prices, locations and characteristics of shared properties through ‘computerised algorithms’. Shared housing tenants, nonetheless, face a series of challenges, especially related to misrepresentation of property conditions, fake profile identity of advertisers, upward pressure on rental prices and high competition for listed properties, all of which influence their housing search and living experiences. Digital platforms emerge as complex socio-technical assemblages that are difficult to regulate as city authorities struggle to formulate effective mechanisms to govern technology-led social change. The paper provides valuable insights into housing informality and tenant exploitation at the platform interface and calls for platform governance.

     

Tenant Participation and Social Housing in the UK: Applying a Theoretical Model

Tenant participation is becoming an almost ubiquitous feature of the planning and provision of social housing. A range of opportunities has been (and is being) created by and for tenants to participate in the planning, provision and evaluation of housing services. Yet while local authorities and other social landlords may be keen to consult tenants, and tenants themselves often want to make their voices heard, there is a perennial problem in actually getting people involved. This paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding this important question. It then reports on recent research that applies the framework in two different contexts: tenants' associations and tenant management organisations. The implications for housing policy and practice are discussed.     

Strategies for exclusion from social housing

In Sweden most local social authorities sublet flats to homeless clients with special contracts. In spite of this kind of social housing there are people sleeping ‘rough’ or in night shelters. These realities were approached in a case study, where a group of social workers engaged in housing support and supply were interviewed and observed. Two sets of methods in social housing control and exclusion are identified: (a) the landlords’ strategy of border control, split into gate‐keeping and expulsion; (b) the social workers’ strategy of discipline, that is to control individuals, while keeping them inside the domains of responsibility. As landlords, the local social authorities applied both strategies to their clients/tenants. This resulted in reinforced border control and a justification of exclusion, which implied judgements of the clients’ needs and capabilities, as well as placing responsibility on the homeless themselves.     

How to attract more landlords to the housing choice voucher program: a case study of landlord outreach efforts

Since 1980, the focus of American housing policy has shifted away from project-based to tenant-based subsidies, i.e. the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP). Yet many HCVP recipients have remained in high-poverty and high-minority areas of central cities. To improve the effectiveness of HCVP in expanding residential choices, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is encouraging local public housing authorities to utilize a variety of techniques to provide more opportunity for voucher recipients to move to low poverty areas including meetings with current or prospective owners, owners’ newsletters, owner fairs, program videos and direct contact with owners. Although there has been a considerable body of research on voucher recipients in the Gautreaux and Moving to Opportunity programs, two special housing voucher programs, there has been little research on the effectiveness of landlord outreach efforts as part of the regular HCVP. We therefore conducted a case study of landlord outreach efforts currently being implemented by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. We combined observation of landlord outreach events with semi-structured interviews to determine reasons why landlords do or do not participate, landlords’ perceptions on the extent to which HCVP addresses their concerns, what they take away from these events, and how outreach efforts might be improved. This case study indicates that there is considerable room for improvement in landlord outreach efforts by the housing authority. The policy implications for HUD as well as public housing authorities across the United States are discussed.     

Does locality make a difference? The impact of housing allowance reforms on private landlords

Housing subsidies are used by developed welfare states to ensure their citizens can access decent and affordable housing. This paper assesses the relative importance of individual and area level factors on the degree to which private sector landlords were affected by changes to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in the UK. The changes were part of the government’s package of measures to reform LHA and reduce the welfare benefit bill. Multi-level modelling techniques have been applied to a longitudinal survey of 788 private sector landlords who had LHA tenants in 19 Local Authorities across GB. The analysis shows that whilst landlords were affected by reforms, area effects were not as pronounced as anticipated. In general, landlords were equally affected regardless of where they operate. The findings suggest tenants in the most affected areas have absorbed increases in their rent shortfall signifying income was not the overriding determinant of demand.     

The impact of the direct payment of housing benefit: evidence from Great Britain

In recent years, a number of welfare reforms have been introduced in the UK by Conservative-led governments. The most high profile of these is Universal Credit (UC), which is currently being rolled out across the country. A key feature of UC is a change in the way the income-related housing allowance for social housing tenants (Housing Benefit) is administered, as under UC, it is paid directly to tenants (direct payment), who are responsible for paying their rent. This represents a step change for them as for more than 30 years landlord payment has been the norm in the UK. There has been little research into direct payment. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge by presenting the key findings of an initiative designed to trial direct payment. It finds that many tenants experienced difficulties on direct payment. Reflecting this, landlords' arrears rose markedly.     

Government housing policy in New South Wales 1788–1900

This paper discusses the development of housing policy in Australia through a study of New South Wales. Throughout the 19th century the government became increasingly involved in housing. Its involvement was reluctant and not always welcomed. It was principally concerned with relationships between landlords and tenants and the quality of housing, and this paper examines the factors influencing the emerging pattern of intervention.     

Housing Subsidies: Definitions and Comparisons

In this paper the meaning of the term 'housing subsidy' is reviewed and the theoretical and practical problems of measuring the value of housing subsidies and making comparisonsbetween countries is demonstrated.The definitions of both 'subsidy' and 'housing subsidy' are questioned. The paper shows that what is and is not a housing subsidy is often ill defined. More rigorous analysis, it is argued, requires the use of 'benchmarks' against which the changes initiated by subsidies can be judged. The use of alternative benchmarks with respect to home owners, tenants and landlords in several European countries is demonstrated.     

Proud to be a Tenant: The Construction of Common Cause Among Residents in Social Housing

This paper demonstrates the assemblage of a distinctive body of combative beliefs among social housing tenants in England engaged in formal participation with their landlords. Applying the social movement diagnostic of frame analysis, the paper identifies three ‘collective identity frames’ that signify the construction of common cause among a diverse and fragmented tenant population. These frames celebrate social housing as a public good, promote grass-roots decision-making and advocate direct democracy to public services. They champion local knowledge and local services and articulate a commitment to collective action and collective provision that opposes itself to the individualising discourse of the market. Although a lack of unity characterises the organisation of social housing tenants, this assemblage of contentious claims may signify the continuation of narratives of a tenants' movement and indicate the cautious mobilisation of a distinctive ‘counter-discourse’ in housing policy.     

Action–reaction. Survival strategies of tenants and landlords in the private rental sector in Belgium

The private rental sector (PRS) is growing in many Western countries after a period of decline. In Belgium, a renewed policy interest in the PRS emerges and the sector is believed to play an important role in addressing housing needs of low-income households. Steering these households to the PRS is however not without problems. The supply side of the market is not necessarily willing to accommodate vulnerable renters. Landlords and real estate brokers install mechanisms to exclude financially vulnerable households throughout the entire rental procedure. These in turn develop (counter)strategies to get round the obstacles and to increase their chances. In this article, we apply an interactional perspective to study the interplay of strategies developed by both sides of the market. The article is based on 58 in-depth interviews with landlords and brokers, testimonies of low-income tenants from 15 focus groups plus 5 in-depth interviews about the influence of different discrimination grounds on their private rental experiences.     

Housing Improvements,Perceived Housing Quality and Psychosocial Benefits From the Home

In advanced countries, where many of the most deleterious physical health effects of poor housing have been eradicated or substantially reduced, there has been increasing interest in mental health and psychosocial benefits as housing outcomes. Recently available data, based on a large-scale survey of social renters in Glasgow, have offered the opportunity to explore the psychosocial benefits of home in previously unavailable detail, over a range of property types and housing improvement interventions. Findings indicate that home improvements have mediating effects upon the psychosocial benefits, which occupants derive from their homes via their impacts upon perceived home quality. However, landlord relations and the quality of the wider neighbourhood within which improvements take place are shown to be important moderators of this relationship. In particular, landlords' overall service performance, how they keep tenants informed and how they take tenants' views on board, all make a difference to perceptions of home quality and to psychosocial status and control.     

Becoming a landlord: strategies of property-based welfare in the private rental sector in Great Britain

Ongoing neoliberal policies have realigned the links between housing and welfare, positioning residential property investment – commonly through homeownership and exceptionally also through landlordism – at the core of households’ asset-building strategies. Nonetheless, the private rented sector (PRS) has been commonly portrayed as a tenure option for tenants rather than a welfare strategy for landlords. Drawing on qualitative interviews with landlords across Great Britain, we explore landlords’ different motivations in engaging in landlordism; and the ways in which their property-based welfare strategies are shaped by the particular intersection of individual socioeconomic and life-course circumstances, and the broader socioeconomic and financial environment. By employing a constructionist grounded approach to research, our study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the different ways that asset-based welfare strategies operate within the PRS. We draw attention to an understudied nexus between homeownership and landlordism which we argue represents a promising route for future research.     

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Programme Impacts on Housing Affordability in Australia: Microsimulation Model Estimates

Growing concern about a lack of rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households has prompted consideration of possible policy interventions. This paper estimates the potential housing market impacts of a tax credit targeted on rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households. The study finds that existing landlords in low-income rental housing benefit from a one-third or more reduction in their effective tax burdens. If these tax benefits are passed on in the form of lower market rents, it is estimated that the percentage of households paying more than 30 per cent of gross income in rents falls from 26 to 21 per cent. This impact would be larger but for eligible households in receipt of demand-side subsidies in the form of rent assistance. As a consequence, many low-income households receive only part of the low income housing tax credit benefits that are passed on into lower market rents. Moreover, higher income tenants occupy some of the cheaper rental housing targeted by tax credits, and this weakens the policy rationale for such supply-side measures. The paper advocates the adoption of headleasing arrangements to increase the share of benefits received by low-income tenants.     

Band-aid or Panacea? The Role of Private Rental Support Programs in Addressing Access Problems in the Australian Housing Market

Australia has a significant private rental market with over a quarter of households renting their home from a private landlord. Many of these households are on low incomes and receive assistance from private rental support programs provided by each Australian state and territory. In spite of these large numbers, little is known about the effectiveness of policy initiatives to assist low-income private renters. Limited knowledge of the private rental support programs stands in stark contrast to the detailed research on programs established to address homelessness and problems within the public housing sector. This paper addresses this lacuna by reporting on the suite of initiatives currently funded by state governments to assist low-income households (for example, bond loans and rental deposits, advice and help with removal expenses). Based on a comprehensive study of Private Rental Support Programs (PRSPs) commissioned by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, it is argued that though policies to assist vulnerable tenants are acknowledged as a success by practitioners and clients, their effectiveness as a policy instrument is undermined by wider structural changes in the housing market. The paper concludes that the stress faced by many vulnerable households is likely to intensify over the coming years thereby compounding the pressure on state Housing Authorities to provide more comprehensive packages of support that extend beyond just a ‘one-off’ form of assistance.