Private Renting Research Articles

A Study on the Effectiveness of Private Stock Securitization in Public-Supported Private Rental Housing Development

A Study on the Effectiveness of Private Stock Securitization in Public-Supported Private Rental Housing Development

Retroactive legislation on the conversion of rental house to sales

The preferential sale conversion system was introduced to help rental housing tenants who did not own a home acquire the house they were living in, provided they met certain conditions. This system aimed to facilitate homeownership by prioritizing eligible tenants in the purchase of rental homes. However, as some qualified tenants were unable to afford the conversion price, a new policy was implemented allowing them to purchase housing at a lower preferential sale conversion price. The Supreme Court ruled that when a rental house occupied by an ineligible tenant was sold to a third party, it could be sold at the market price. Additionally, the Court determined that even tenants who moved in through a first-come, first-served system must have satisfied the requirement of being completely houseless at the time of move-in. This decision aligns with the wording of the former Rental Housing Act and the legislative intent of the preferential sale conversion system. However, these Supreme Court rulings contradicted previous interpretations by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. Following these rulings, the Ministry enacted retroactive legislation through the revised Special Act on Public Housing to reinforce its original interpretation. Consequently, even when an ineligible tenant’s rental home is sold to a third party, it must now be sold at or below the preferential conversion price. Furthermore, this legislation allows tenants who moved in through the first-come, first-serve method to qualify for preferential sale conversion if they met the houseless requirement at the time of conversion, even if they did not meet this requirement at the time of moving in. This retroactive legislation contradicts the original legislative intent of the preferential sale conversion system and significantly restricts the property rights of rental business operators. Therefore, a constitutional interpretation is required to narrow the scope of its application. Meanwhile, following the implementation of the revised Special Act on Public Housing, lower courts have issued conflicting rulings regarding whether tenants who already own homes qualify for preferential sale conversion when a public rental housing unit constructed by a private rental business face bankruptcy or insolvency. Considering the wording of the revised Special Act on Public Housing and the legislative history of amendments to the supplementary provisions of the Special Act on Private Rental Housing, it is reasonable to conclude that, even in cases of bankruptcy or insolvency, tenants who own homes should no longer be eligible for preferential sale conversion.

The impacts of the threat of eviction or actual eviction on private renters in two Australian states

Around one in four Australian households are reliant on the private rental sector (PRS). The light regulation thereof means that landlords are able to increase the rent annually to whatever the market can tolerate and can evict tenants for a range of reasons. Although precise data are not available, organisations assisting tenants have reported that not renewing leases and actual evictions in the current tight rental market are common. We argue that when a tenant is forced to move by an unaffordable rent increase, or a refusal by the landlord to do repairs, these involuntary moves should be recognised as an ‘informal eviction’, even without a termination notice. Despite its prevalence, there has been scant research on evictions in Australia. We draw on 53 interviews with private tenants in two states, New South Wales and Queensland to understand the impacts of eviction. Drawing on Isabell Lorey’s and Judith Butler’s concepts of precarity, the article examines the impacts of both the threat of eviction and actual eviction on private renters. Several impacts are discussed – the effects on tenants’ mental health, the financial implications, the reluctance to ask for maintenance, the loss of support networks, sense of home and decline in accommodation quality.

Profiting from prestige: the political economy of mega-events in Azerbaijan

Why do rentier states seek out hosting rights for major international events? This article investigates this question through a qualitative case study of mega-events programs in Azerbaijan. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, hydrocarbon exports have formed the backbone of the country’s economy and the main source of rents for ruling elites. Focusing on the development of Azerbaijan’s events industry in the 2000’s and 2010’s, the article uses available evidence and process tracing techniques to develop the hypothesis that Azerbaijan’s elites sought out hosting rights, at least in part, to diversify their sources of private rents. By problematising the direction of causality between mega-events and rent-seeking behaviour, this analysis expands current theories on states’ motivations for hosting these events and contributes to existing understandings about how these proceedings serve to support and sustain rentier regimes.

Decommodified housing under pressure: contested policy instruments and provisioning practices in Vienna

Vienna is considered a prime example of decommodified housing, with more than 40% of the population living in social housing and strict rent controls in large parts of private rental. However, deregulation, an increased presence of corporate investors and rising housing costs indicate that the decommodified status of housing is coming under pressure. Against this background, we apply the concept of (de-)commodification to investigate how housing becomes a commodity by degree within the social as well as the private rental sector. We analyse how policy instruments and provisioning practices either enable or constrain the commodity form of housing in social and private rental and what consequences this has for housing conditions. Our findings reveal how the use value of housing – housing qualities and their ability to satisfy needs – as well as the exchange value – the general exchangeability and price of housing – are established in housing construction and allocation, and the way in which the latter comes to dominate the former. This serves to grasp the current transformation of housing systems in more detail and to outline potential pathways for advancing decommodification.

Algorithmic tenancies and the ordinal tenant: digital risk-profiling in England’s private rented sector

This paper examines digital tenant risk-profiling tools in England’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) and their influence on housing access and fairness. Based on qualitative data from 50 interviews and a survey of PRS landlords drawn from a larger project, the study analyses adoption patterns, algorithmic biases and the implications for tenant rights. Issues such as data privacy, discrimination, and exclusionary practices affecting marginalised groups are highlighted. The research underscores how digital platforms reshape landlord-tenant relationships and broader housing market dynamics in the light of recent, broader, theorisations of what sociologists Marian Fourcade and Kieran Healy have conceptualised as an emerging ordinal society. In this article, we argue that the logic of such metrics and data-informed algorithmic systems has led to the emergence of an ordinal tenant.

The salt fringe as an energy periphery: Energy efficiency in the private rental sector of seaside towns in England and Wales

AbstractLow‐carbon energy futures increasingly focus on improving the energy efficiency of homes to reduce emissions and living conditions. Energy efficiency can represent a justice‐led intervention supporting those most in need, living in the least efficient homes or with the least capacity to act, including many households relying on the private rental housing sector. This paper provides an empirically grounded intervention to argue for the necessity of future scholarship and interventions in United Kingdom energy and social policy to pay closer attention to seaside towns. We use the case of seaside towns to argue for broader geographical conceptualisations of energy peripheries, beyond rurality. Recently described as ‘the salt fringe’, seaside towns are important political and cultural sites: often symbolising processes of deprivation and communities being ‘left behind’. They also represent distinct geographies of energy poverty and inefficiency contingent on a range of socio‐economic and historical factors, including property tenure. Through analysis of Energy Performance Certificate data for England and Wales, we highlight how seaside towns can be characterised as new energy peripheries, identifying statistically significant clusters of energy‐inefficient private rentals. We reflect on the importance of understanding place‐based context and stories—closing with a profile of the Fylde, a stretch of coastline in the north‐west England. These findings advance scholarship on low‐carbon transitions by illuminating important links between energy peripheries and energy efficiency; highlighting seaside towns as important peripheries; and detailing the complex factors defining such peripherality both today and in future energy transitions.

Secondary cities at the residential housing frontier: Examining the determinants of private renters’ residential satisfaction in Ghana

Secondary cities at the residential housing frontier: Examining the determinants of private renters’ residential satisfaction in Ghana

Rental regime change and the geography of poverty in Toronto, 1971–2006

Explanations of urban segregation by income must look to the housing system, alongside local factors. In welfare capitalist countries, the respective roles of private and social rental cannot be assumed. This study draws on policy literature as well as census and administrative data to explain how a shifting housing policy and market regime shaped the evolving segregation of low-income renters in Greater Toronto, 1971-2006. A huge postwar private-rental apartment building sector, and greatly expanding social housing, almost equally shaped this geography. The postwar regime created a ‘mixed economy of rental’, mixed-income suburbs, and two decades of sustained central-city mix despite gentrification. Social housing at 10-12 percent of total housing production—departing from long-run trends in liberal-welfare Canada—absorbed half of low-income demand, with large mitigating impacts on neighbourhood change. After 1980, neoliberal trends of declining rental incomes and production directly fed more segregation, inner-suburban ‘decline’, and less-mixed outer suburbs. Spatial patterns arose from distinctive national and local influences as well as reflecting international trends. The study confirms the significance of metropolitan growth in small-area trends, and of dispersed rental production in spatial income mix. The findings have relevance internationally in contexts of mixed social and private rental systems and surging ‘built-to-let’ production.

공동주택관리업의 가업상속공제기업 적용

Article 18 of the INHERITANCE TAX AND GIFT TAX ACT (Revised February 6, 2024, Law No. 20194) as amended states, “In the event that the inheritance commences upon the death of a resident or non-resident, KRW 200 million shall be deducted from the taxable value of the inheritance tax.” In the case of “family business”, Article 18(2)(1) of the same law stipulates that “in the case of inheritance commencing upon the death of a resident and it is an inheritance of a family business, an amount equivalent to the value of the inherited property of the family business shall be deducted from the taxable value of the inheritance tax.” This stipulates the “family business inheritance deduction”. However, the ENFORCEMENT DECREE OF THE INHERITANCE TAX AND GIFT TAX ACT does not define the real estate business as a family business inheritance deduction company, nor does it define the “Multi-Family Housing Management Business” under the “MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING MANAGEMENT ACT”, so it is interpreted that the real estate management business does not fall under the category of a company subject to the family business inheritance deduction. If so, the real estate management business does not fall under the category of a company subject to the family business inheritance deduction, and what is the basis for this. In relation to the industrialization of the real estate management business, it will be necessary to examine it. This study comprehensively examines the requirements of companies subject to the family business inheritance deduction under the 「INHERITANCE TAX AND GIFT TAX ACT」, companies under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification and the housing rental management business under the 「SPECIAL ACT ON PRIVATE RENTAL HOUSING」, and presents the grounds for the evaluation of the condominium management business under the 「MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING MANAGEMENT ACT」 as a company subject to the 「INHERITANCE TAX AND GIFT TAX ACT」 family business inheritance deduction. Furthermore, as a legislative proposal, it proposed how to define the family business as an industry eligible for inheritance deduction according to the Korean Standard Industrial Classification of the ENFORCEMENT DECREE OF THE INHERITANCE TAX AND GIFT TAX ACT, and to establish a condominium management business under the “MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING MANAGEMENT ACT” as an industry under the provisions of individual laws.

Housing Tenure and Subjective Wellbeing: The Importance of Public Housing

AbstractPeople’s subjective wellbeing is influenced by the built environment, including housing and neighbourhood characteristics. Consistent with prior literature, we find that wellbeing is associated with the condition of a resident’s house (particularly dampness and cold) and with the resident’s perception of their neighbourhood (especially relating to social capital and safety). We show also that the form of tenure (public rental, private rental, owner-occupier) has a material impact on subjective wellbeing. Identical people in identical settings may have different wellbeing outcomes depending on their security of housing tenure. Our findings utilise a survey administered to residents in public rental housing, private rentals and owner-occupiers in New Zealand, focusing on the capital city, Wellington. Despite selection effects, which are likely to bias findings against higher wellbeing for public housing tenants, we find that public tenants have higher subjective wellbeing (WHO-5 and life satisfaction) than do private tenants, and similar wellbeing to owner-occupiers. Length of tenure helps to explain wellbeing differences between public and private tenants, likely reflecting New Zealand law under which private renters have insecure tenure.

High-density living, migratory status, and perceived crowding: A study of juveniles in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Based on a questionnaire survey of senior secondary school students, this study examines the determinants of perceived crowding of juveniles in Hong Kong, a city that has accommodated generations of migrants from mainland China and elsewhere in the world and is renowned for its extreme densities. The analysis is threefold. First, it identifies factors directly affecting perceived crowding such as home density, housing tenure type, and environmental referent. The next stage, then, examines what factors determine home density. It is found that juveniles in both public- and private-sector-owned housing tend to have significantly more housing space than those residing in rented housing. Newcomers to the city enjoy less housing space compared to more established Hong Kong residents. The third stage analyzes the sorting of households into housing tenure types. New migrants are most likely to be private renters. Over time, the difference in home density and housing tenure types between students with locally born parents and those with mainland-born parents becomes smaller. However, no such trend is observed for students of overseas backgrounds.

Local government interventions for improving the health and wellbeing of tenants in private rented housing: developing initial program theory to inform evaluation in the United Kingdom

BackgroundHousing is an important wider determinant of health. Private Rented Sector (PRS) housing is generally the worst quality of housing stock across tenures. Although a wide range of interventions are available to local governments to manage and improve the quality of PRS housing and therefore the health of tenants, there is limited evidence about the extent to which these are used. This study aims to explore what drives the use of different interventions in different local governments, to better understand and inform local strategies.MethodsAs the first realist evaluation on this topic, the range of available interventions was informed by a Local Government Association toolkit. Consistent with realist approaches, retroductive analysis of intervention-context-mechanism-outcome configurations helped to develop and refine Initial Programme Theories (IPTs). Data sources included local government housing documents, a survey and eleven semi-structured interviews with housing officers.ResultsUsing data for 22 out of the 30 local governments in the South West region of the United Kingdom, eight IPTs were developed which act on different levels from individual PRS team leaders to system wide. The IPTs include a belief in market forces, risk adverse to legal challenge, attitude to enforcement, relational approaches to partnership working, job security and renumeration, financial incentives drive action, and system-level understanding of the drivers of poor health, inequalities and opportunities for cost-savings. The findings suggest that limited objective health outcomes are being used to understand impact, which hinders interpretation of the effectiveness of all mechanisms.ConclusionInterventions that bring about positive outcomes in managing PRS housing are unlikely to be universal; they depend on the context which differs across place and over time. The proposed IPTs highlight the need for strategies to be tailored considering the local context and should be evaluated in subsequent phases of study.

Local authority intervention in private renting: from compliance to hardline enforcement

AbstractDrawing on data from two empirical projects concerned with local authority enforcement of standards in the private rented sector, this article argues that there are signs of greater use of formal enforcement approaches, and that these approaches are increasingly ‘hardline’. This finding runs counter to the existing scholarship on regulatory enforcement, which emphasizes securing compliance over formal enforcement. Securing compliance is also integral to the regulatory guidance in this sphere of activity. Further, in the context of cuts to local authority funding and greater local authority demand for private rented stock to meet household needs, the shift to hardline approaches requires explanation. Drawing on Keith Hawkins’ and Peter Manning's theory of legal decision making, which emphasizes consideration of the surround, the field, and the frame, the authors explain how changes to the field, in particular, have encouraged this shift.

Should We Evict Critical Perspectives on the State-Led Gentrification of Council Estates in London? The Case of Woodberry Down

Research on council estate regeneration in London has revealed predominantly negative outcomes, including direct and indirect displacements, the loss of homes and communities, and the slow-violence enacted on residents by lengthy programs. Drawing on recent EU-funded research on Woodberry Down (Hackney), we highlight similar negative effects, alongside some positive, ambiguous, and novel outcomes. We discuss these mixed findings within two emerging trends: a new turn to criticizing “antigentrification” work on estate regeneration; and a housing policy turn back to promoting council homes and the refurbishment of council estates. We conclude that it is premature to evict “antigentrification” perspectives in the longue durée of estate regeneration in London, even in the case of Woodberry Down, which has had some significant community won victories. We also reveal new complicating factors in this “gentrification story”—“Guppies” and precarious private renters who are not the wealthy, professional gentrifiers of earlier new-build gentrification literatures.

Housing independence pathways in Europe: the influence of parents’ socio-economic background in times of economic stress

ABSTRACT The housing independence of young adults has become more complex and uncertain in Europe over the last decades. Previous research suggests that patterns of independent living and housing demand have become more differentiated and socially stratified, especially since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). The decline in homeownership and the availability of social housing has been accompanied by an increase in private renting and shared accommodation. Moreover, young adults have increasingly relied on their parents for both material and non material support to overcome constraints and achieve independent living. This paper examines how the relationship between parental background and both young adults' leaving home, and their first housing tenure changed during the GFC in different European housing contexts. Using longitudinal data from EU-SILC (2008–2018), the results show that parental background still plays a significant stratifying role in the housing independence of young adults from the pre – to the post-crisis period, particularly in terms of first tenure status rather than home-leaving. The influence of the housing context on both housing market opportunities and the role of parents in young adults' independence shapes the shift from co-residence with parents to living independently in either homeownership or rented accommodation.

Leveraging the potential of local government scrutiny: a case study of Southampton City Council scrutiny inquiry into its private rented sector

ABSTRACT Drawing on the authors’ experience of being involved as technical experts in Southampton City Council’s interrogation of the private rented sector, the paper considers the potential and the limitations of local government scrutiny inquires as a mechanism for assisting in the achievement of social justice. Scrutiny Inquiries are a relatively new democratic initiative introduced to provide a counterbalance to the greater concentration of powers in the council executive brought about by the Local Government Act 2000. The paper contributes to the literature on local government scrutiny, which is currently driven by public administration scholarship, by developing a holistic socio-legal analysis that seeks to embed a single case study within the wider complex legal, political and social environment. Although Scrutiny Inquiries empower back-bench local councillors and, to a lesser extent, promote community engagement in local government decision making, the paper identifies how austerity localism and reforms to the broader accountability environment have exposed gaps in the system of oversight of local government performance. Nonetheless we found there was political potential in the scrutiny inquiry process because it mobilised landlords and tenants in the city and provided a template for local action on private renting.

Does Digital Status Unlawfully Penalise EU Citizens Accessing the UK's Private Rented Sector?

In the past few years, more than six million EU citizens living in the UK have transitioned to a new immigration status. The only evidence they have of this new status is in digital form. This group is now navigating the UK's ‘compliant environment’, designed to deter unauthorised migration, with this new form of status. This has created an unpredictable new dynamic with serious risks of discrimination in everyday interactions, such as when people are trying to rent a property. In this article, we explore the impact of this digital‐only status by drawing on a large‐scale discrete choice experiment with private rented sector landlords, which shows that people with digital‐only immigration status are substantially penalised on the private rental market due to the form of their ID. We argue that this discrimination is not only troubling in substance but also arguably amounts to a breach of non‐discrimination and equal treatment provisions under the Withdrawal Agreement (Article 12 and Article 23 respectively). The apparent lack of effective enforcement points to the potential limits of such protections after Brexit.

Allocating Housing Assistance After the Decentring of Social Housing: From Rationing to Social Sorting

ABSTRACT Anglophone countries are diversifying their responses to housing insecurity, decentring social housing and expanding use of market-oriented assistance that aims to promote “housing independence” . Drawing on fieldwork in three Australian jurisdictions, this paper examines the impact of this shift for how housing assistance is allocated. We argue that allocations practices can no longer be understood as centred on the rationing of a single product – social housing. Rather, they nowadays perform a “social sorting” function that mimics those developed in consumer marketing, where personal information is collected to classify and segment consumers to match them to tailored “products”. These practices sort households based on their “capacity for independence”, aiming to maximize market engagement and reserving social housing for those with the most complex needs. We conclude that these sorting practices ignore both the realities of private renting in Australia (as elsewhere) and the self-defined housing needs of low-income households.

Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals Asset-based Welfare and Housing in Great Britain

The role of housing in providing a welfare asset has been widely explored. With the growth in home ownership between 1979 and 2008 and erosion of the welfare state, housing wealth has become part of the welfare mix in the UK. Here, we present analysis of housing outcomes, as measured in the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), among people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual in Great Britain. This shows that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people have poorer housing outcomes than heterosexual counterparts: they are less likely to be homeowners; more likely to be private renters; and more likely to be social renters. With growing intergenerational inequalities in access to home ownership, we argue that, as openly LGB (and broader trans and queer) people being on average younger than the rest of the population, this could lead to LGB people, as a group, being excluded from asset-based welfare in the future as they age.