Controlling Letting Arrangements? Landlords and surveillance in the private rented sector?

Abstract

Research into landlord/tenant relationships in the private rented housing sector has rarely focussed upon landlords' surveillance of tenants as a means to control behaviour and use of property, despite it often taking the form, or being on the margins of the legal definition of harassment. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, this article focuses upon day-to-day relationships between landlords and tenants and explores landlords' perceptions of their property and tenants and the types of surveillance activities they adopt to control and manage tenants behaviour. The article reveals the personal and emotional motivations behind landlords' surveillance activity and raises questions about the legal and policy contexts of the private rented sector which enable such conduct to exist. In the light of the findings, the difficulties in combating extreme forms of surveillance as a property management technique are discussed and the article concludes by raising a number of issues about the ways in which current policy and legislation could be used to promote a greater understanding of rights and responsibilities in landlord/tenant relationships.