Tenant Protection Research Articles

Editorial

This issue contains six diverse contributions on topics ranging from prostitution to rent control, unfair dismissals, civil liberties in Zimbabwe, prospecting rights and insolvency issues. The first article is from Sarah Pudifin (pupil advocate at the KwaZulu-Natal Bar) and Shannon Bosch (senior lecturer in law at the University KwaZulu-Natal), who examine countervailing South African public opinion on the subject of prostitution and identify the factors which might influence these attitudes. Sue-Mari Maass of the University of South Africa in the second article gives a comparative analysis of rent control measures imposed in various jurisdictions (South Africa, New York and England) to provide tenure protection for vulnerable tenants. The third article is from Stella Vettori, also of the University of South Africa, who discusses the role of human dignity in the assessment of fair compensation for unfair dismissals. The authors of the fourth article are Jephias Mapuva and Loveness Muyengwa-Mapuva. They discuss key legislation within the areas of media and access to information, individual rights and freedoms, as well as legislation pertaining to the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe. The issue concludes with two case notes. The first one is from Tracy-Lynn Humby of the University of the Witwatersrand. She writes about the conflict between two empowerment firms, Bengwenyama Minerals (the investment vehicle of the Bengwenyama-ye-Maswazi community) and Genorah Resources, which culminated in three judgments, termed the "Bengwenyama trilogy" by the author. Her focus is on the right of a community to prospect or mine and the protection thereof during mining activities. The second note, written by Lienne Steyn of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, considers case law which deals with the interface between the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and the Insolvency Act 24 of 1936. The question in all three cases she discusses was whether or not a debtor's application for debt review constitutes an act of insolvency which can be relied upon by a debtor in an application for the compulsory
 

Gentrification, suburban decline, and the financialization of multi-family rental housing: The case of Toronto

While traditional forms of gentrification involved the conversion of rental units to owner-occupation, a new rental-tenure form of gentrification has emerged across the globe. This is driven by financialization, reduced tenant protections, and declining social-housing production, and is characterized by the replacement of poorer renters with higher-income tenants. Many poorer renters are in turn being displaced out of the inner city and into older suburban neighbourhoods where aging apartment towers had provided a last bastion of affordable accommodation, but which are now also targeted by large rental housing corporations. These dynamics are increasingly dominated by what we call ‘financialized landlords,’ including those owned or run by private equity funds, financial asset management corporations, and real estate investment trusts (REITS). Such firms float securities on domestic and international markets and use the proceeds to purchase older rental buildings charging affordable rents, and then apply a range of business strategies to extract value from the buildings, existing tenants and local neighbourhoods, and flow them to investors. This paper documents this process in Toronto, Canada's largest city and a city experiencing both sustained gentrification and advanced suburban restructuring. The financialization of rental housing in Toronto was enabled by neoliberal state policies to withdraw from social housing, deregulate rental protections, and decontrol rents – creating an affordability crisis for tenants and an opportunity for investors to profit. The paper maps out the history and locations of buildings that have been purchased by various financial investment vehicles, and analyzes the various strategies that such firms have adopted. We document two key strategies for extracting value, which we call squeezing, and gentrification-by-upgrading and show how these two strategies are conceptually and spatially linked in speeding up the restructuring of the social geography of the city.

SUBSIDIZING HOUSING EXPENSES AS AN INSTRUMENT OF SOCIAL HOUSING POLICY

The article deals with the problem of housing demand and housing policy, the latter seen as all actions carried out by state and local government institutions, using legal and financial instruments, in order to improve the housing situation. The principal objective of the implemented housing policy is to supply the whole population (households) with adquate quality and sizehomes, located in friendly environment and either purchased or rented at low cost. Support instruments are addressed to households having first categorized the housing needs. In order to prevent housing marginalization, households with the lowest incomes are offered social housing aid, which most often equates redistribution of incomes so as to support consumption of housing services among less wealthy groups of the general population. Social help related to housing iscoupled with other actions conducted within the social aid system and the legal protection of tenants. The housing benefit is one of the more broadly applied social housing aid tools.

Coping with Consequences of a Housing Crisis During Great War: A Case of Right-Bank Ukraine in 1914-1918

World War I led to radical changes in the government policy of participating countries. The enormous demographic and economic disturbances caused by the war forced the governments of all the belligerent nations to drastically restrict the market freedom. In particular, the state began actively intervening in the housing market. Ukraine as a part of the former Russian Empire, for the first time in its history saw the introduction of rent controls and protection of tenants from eviction. This paper concentrates on the government intervention in the rental housing market of Right-Bank Ukraine during World War I (1914–1918). It identifies the factors that made the state intervene in the relationships between landlords and tenants, analyzes changes in the housing legislation, and assesses the effectiveness of the regulations.

Quantifying a century of state intervention in rental housing in Germany

The paper aims at measuring the general state intervention in rental housing market in Germany from 1913 through 2015. Four policy classes are considered: Incentives for social housing, tenant protection, housing rationing, and rent controls. Based on a legislation analysis, for each class an index measuring the degree of regulation is constructed. The indices reflect dramatic increases in regulations during and after the World Wars. The 2010s are characterized by a surge in all classes of regulations related to the growing housing scarcity in large cities due to interregional migration leading to a geographical mismatch between housing supply and demand.

Fifty Shades of State: Quantifying Housing Market Regulations in Germany

The paper aims at measuring the rental housing market regulations in Germany between 1913 and 2015. Four classes of housing policy are considered: Fostering of social housing, tenant protection, rationing of housing, and rent controls. Based on a thorough analysis of federal and regional legislation, for each class, an index is constructed, increasing in degree of regulation. An average of the class-specific indices makes up a composite index. The index reflects dramatic increases in regulations during and immediately after the World Wars. Likewise, the 2010s are characterized by a surge in virtually all classes of regulations in Germany related to the growing housing scarcity in large cities due to intra- and international migration that leads to a geographical mismatch between housing supply and demand.

Estimation of vacant period and opportunity cost caused by the Japanese tenant protection law

Estimation of vacant period and opportunity cost caused by the Japanese tenant protection law

Germany, Country of Tenants

Unlike Britain, where homeownership is often associated with security, personal independence and the commitment to middle-class values, Germany, until very recently, promoted tenancy as a way of life. This situation harks back to the nineteenth century and is only to a small extent related to the heritage of socialist East Germany. Today approximately 85 percent of Berliners rent their homes (compared to less than 50 percent of Londoners). The ubiquity of tenancy comes with strong tenant protection laws and has significant consequences on the dynamics of urban development: house values and mortgages play a consequently smaller role in urban politics, gentrification cycles are slower, and the homes of most Germans are not at the mercy of a volatile banking sector. This article will present the historical development of this situation, the consequences on the present housing market and the current debate over homeownership in Germany. Despite the different and long-established social patterns, there may be lessons here for Britain (and other similar economies) in thinking about the rental sectors, the symbolism of ownership, the regulatory and investment roles of government, and the dynamics of urban change.

The Tenant-Landlord Disputes in Chengdu Plain and the Implementation of the Tenant Protection Policy (1946–1948)

:In recent years, there are many new academic researches about the tenant system, including many productive debates. Some debates are about experiential studies on various districts; other debates are about the application and interpretation on different materials. This paper intends to (1) analyze the tenant protection policy of the national government and how tenant disputes were settled in Chengdu Plain region; (2) observe, from the aspects of both policy and implementation, how the national government manipulated tenant-landlord relationship; and (3) explore the relationship among tenants, landlords, and nation. The article concludes that while it was traditionally regarded as siding with the landlord class, the GMD actually made significant effort to mediate the landlord-tenant relationship in order to guarantee and improve tax revenue.

Fifty Shades of State: Quantifying Housing Market Regulations in Germany

The paper aims at measuring the rental housing market regulations in Germany between 1913 and 2015. Four classes of housing policy are considered: Rent controls, tenant protection, rationing of housing, and fostering of social housing. Based on a thorough analysis of federal and regional legislation, for each class, an index is constructed, increasing in degree of regulation. The average of class-specific indices make up a composite index. The index reflects dramatic increases in regulations during and immediately after the World Wars. Likewise, the 2010s are characterized by a surge in virtually all classes of regulations in Germany related to the growing housing scarcity in large cities due to intra- and international migration leading to a geographical mismatch between housing supply and demand.

Multi-tenant Data Authentication Model for SaaS

In SaaS, most tenants rely on the service provider for data maintenance and computation. As tenants no longer possess their application and data locally, it is of critical importance for the tenants to ensure that their data are being cor- rectly stored and maintained. However, the customized multi-tenants sharing storage mode makes it hard for tenants to guarantee their data integrity because multiple tenants' data is stored in one physical universal table and different data types may be stored into a flex column based on tenants' customization. Meanwhile to ensure performances of query, adequate pivot table is set up. These introduce new challenges to data integrity protection for tenants. This paper presents a review of the state of the art solutions and recent patents in the fields of data authentication, and puts forward a multi- tenant data authentication model (MTDA). MTDA is a composite structure that constructs pivot authentication tree (PAT) on the pivot table and combines it with signature set (S-set) built on universal table to ensure that malicious insiders can't modify the data in pivot table and universal table. The main contribution of MTDA is it can guarantee the tenant query re- sult in one tree travels and return the verification object, corresponding to the result on pivot table and universal table. We demonstrate effectiveness of our model compared with direct adoption of the MB tree based approaches on pivot table and universal table through the experiment. MTDA shows a better performance on VO verification.

Adverse selection versus hold up: Tenure choice, tenancy protection and equilibrium in housing markets

In this paper, we consider the tenure choice problem under different schemes of legal tenancy protection. We analyze the interaction between the rental and resale housing markets under conditions of bilateral asymmetric information regarding housing quality and the type of residents. Home ownership is associated with a trade-off between the loss caused by asymmetric information and rent exploitation by landlords in a holdup problem. With perfect protection for tenants, adverse selection in the resale housing market becomes problematic, and the market disappears. Conversely, the absence of tenancy protection mitigates adverse selection in the resale housing market and leads to a separating equilibrium.

Sing, Dance, and Be Merry: The Key to Successful Urban Development?

This study examines a unique case of urban redevelopment conflict in Seoul, South Korea. The Duriban case is one of the few urban redevelopment cases in South Korea that was peacefully resolved with protection of tenants' rights. The research aimed to answer why this case was peacefully resolved while other redevelopment cases have been contentious and even violent. Through documentary analysis and in-depth interviews with key actors, we identified the following eight categories as important factors: emotional support; sympathy; loose networks or bonds; continued action and volunteerism; place of interaction and bonding; encouragement and motivation for participation; transformation of physical space into a psychological space; and creating a meaningful and symbolic space. The findings highlight how community building through arts and cultural activities can be an important tool for socially just urban redevelopment.

Pauperization and Polarization of French Social Housing

Peuplement du logement social : paupérisation et polarisation Cet article descriptif essaie de formaliser certains mécanismes sous-jacents à l’évolution du peuplement des logements sociaux, pour éclairer le phénomène de paupérisation observé depuis une vingtaine d’années. Il propose aussi un modèle de filtration qui, joint au droit au maintien dans les lieux au même loyer quel que soit le revenu, modifie la paupérisation et explique que l’ancienneté des locataires soit corrélée positivement au revenu en hlm , ce qui s’accompagne d’une polarisation de la population hlm . Il apporte des éléments chiffrés sur la paupérisation à partir des enquêtes Logement de l’Insee et montre que les données sont compatibles avec le modèle proposé. Classification JEL : D1, R2

Rent Control: A Comparative Analysis

Recent case law shows that vulnerable, previously disadvantaged private sector tenants are currently facing eviction orders – and consequential homelessness – on the basis that their leases have expired. In terms of the case law it is evident that once their leases have expired, these households do not have access to alternative accommodation. In terms of the Constitution, this group of marginalised tenants have a constitutional right of access to adequate housing and a right to occupy land with legally secure tenure. The purpose of this article is to critically analyse a number of legislative interventions, and specifically rent control, that were imposed in various jurisdictions in order to provide strengthened tenure protection for tenants. The rationale for this analysis is to determine whether the current South African landlordtenant regime is able to provide adequate tenure protection for vulnerable tenants and therefore in the process of transforming in line with the Constitution. The legal construction of rent control was adopted in pre-1994 South Africa, England and New York City to provide substantive tenure protection for tenants during housing shortages. These statutory interventions in the different private rental markets were justified on the basis that there was a general need to protect tenants against exploitation by landlords. However, the justification for the persistent imposition of rent control in New York City is different since it protects a minority group of financially weak tenants against homelessness. The English landlord-tenant regime highlights the importance of a well-structured social sector that can provide secure, long-term housing options for low-income households who are struggling to access the private rental sector. Additionally, the English rental housing framework shows that if the social sector is functioning as a "safety net" for low-income households, the private sector would be able to uphold deregulation. In light of these comparisons and the fact that the South African social sector is not functioning optimally yet, the question is whether the South African private sector is able to provide the required level of tenure protection for struggling tenants. Recent case law shows that tenants are at liberty to lodge unfair practice complaints with the Rental Housing Tribunals on the basis that the landlords' ground for termination of the lease constitutes an unfair practice. The Court defined an unfair practice as a practice that unreasonably prejudices the tenants' rights or interests. This judicial development signifies some transformation in the private sector since it allows the Tribunals to scrutinise landlords' reasons for termination of tenancies in light of tenants' personal and socioeconomic circumstances. The Tribunals are therefore empowered to weigh the interests of both parties and decide whether to confirm termination of the lease or set aside such termination. In light of this recent development, the Tribunals can provide strengthened tenure protection for destitute tenants on a case by case basis, which incorporates a flexible context-sensitive approach to the provision of secure housing rights in the landlord-tenant framework. This methodology is similar to the German approach. Even though this judicial development is welcomed, it raises some concerns with regard to landlords' property rights and specifically landlords' constitutional property rights since Tribunals are now at liberty to set aside contractually agreed grounds for termination of leases without any statutory guidance. The legislation fails to provide any information regarding legitimate grounds for termination, which might have to be rectified in future. The grounds listed in the rent control legislation should serve as a starting point to determine which grounds for termination of a lease should generally be upheld. However, German landlord-tenant law shows that a statutory ground for termination of a lease should not be imposed in an absolutist fashion but rather place a heavier burden on the tenant to prove why the lease should not come to an end.KEYWORDS: Constitution; landlord-tenant law; rent control; rent regulation; development of the common law; comparative law; housing law; statutory interpretation

Disaster and Protection of Tenants in Japanese Law: General Principles in Time of Emergencies

AbstractThis article examines the legal protection of ex-tenants after disasters in Japan. The “Act Providing Temporary Measures concerning Land Lease and Building Lease in the Cities Damaged by War” of 1946 conferred not only the right to lease rebuilt buildings, but also the right of ex-tenants to lease the land of destroyed buildings. Therefore, many victims of the war disaster were entitled to construct and keep self-made shelters on the site of destroyed buildings. Thus, emergencies created exceptions to general rules or principles. The implementation of the Lease Act of 1946 was initially limited to the war disaster, but the government later issued the implementation Cabinet Orders of the Lease Act of 1946 to major disasters until 2004. However, in the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the local communities and local bar associations raised strong oppositions against the Lease Act of 1946 on the motif that the implementation of the Lease Act of 1946 would cause complicated legal and social problems. The Ministry of Justice decided not to enact an implementation Cabinet Order of the Lease Act of 1946. The Japanese Diet adopted a new Act regarding the lease in time of disaster in June 2013 to abolish the right to lease land and to lease newly rebuilt buildings as well. In a highly developed modern society, it is difficult to justify exceptions to general principles even in the case of emergencies caused by large-scale disasters.

Housing Restitution and Privatisation: Both Catalysts and Obstacles to the Formation of Private Rental Housing in the Czech Republic and Estonia

The return of property expropriated during the communist period to previous owners or to their descendants (property restitution) led to the quick emergence of a private rental sector in those post-communist countries that applied a physical form of property restitution soon after 1990. The Czech Republic and Estonia are examples of such countries. Within just a few years, as a result of property restitution, a private rental sector grew out of almost non-existence to become a significant part of the countries’ total housing stock. However, the character of this sector remained different from the private rental sector found in countries with advanced economies – especially owing to specific rent regulation, tenant protection and, albeit indirectly, public housing privatisation. This article analyses and compares the genesis of private rental tenure in the Czech Republic and Estonia. Its main goal is to demonstrate how state regulations and interventions have influenced tenure choice, the formation of social norms, and thus the permanent perception of private renting. In both transition countries private renting gradually acquired the character of a transitional and residual form of housing. State interventions early on in the transition were probably the most significant factors behind the fact that private renting did not establish itself as a real tenure alternative to owner-occupied housing.

Residential Mobility and Public Policy in OECD Countries

Residential mobility is closely tied to the functioning of housing markets and has important implications for labour mobility and the efficient allocation of resources across the economy. This paper analyses patterns of residential mobility across OECD countries and the role of housing policies in enhancing or hampering residential mobility. Based on cross-sectional household data for 25countries, the results suggest that differences in residential mobility across countries are partially related to differences in public policies. After controlling for household and country- specific characteristics, residential mobility is higher in countries with lower transaction costs, more responsive housing supply, lower rent controls and tenant protection. Residential mobility tends also to be higher in environments with greater access to credit, suggesting that financial deregulation – by lowering borrowing costs and facilitating access to mortgage finance – facilitates mobility. This cross- country evidence is supported by city and state-level evidence for the United States. JEL classification: R23, R31, R21, R38, H20. Keywords: Housing markets, residential mobility, transaction costs, rental market regulations

Rental Housing: Divorce Or Annulment Of The Parties

The purpose of increasing the supply in the market lettings Spanish accompanied by greater legal certainty to the parties and protection of tenants has been delivered with the new Law 19/2009, of November 23 amending the rules of urban leases. We analyze the possibility of refusal to extend legal, as long as is contemplated in the contract, when the landlord needs to occupy the house for your spouse in the event of a divorce decree or marriage annulment. This course requires a parallel analysis with the system of judicial allocation of use of the rented family home in cases of separation, annulment and divorce of the tenant.

HIGH VACANCY RATES AND RISING HOUSE PRICES: THE SPANISH PARADOX

ABSTRACTIn a ‘normal’ housing market, one would expect that rising house prices go together with low vacancy rates and vice versa. However, in Spain, this has not been the case. Until very recently, Spain was characterised by strongly rising house prices as well as by a high rate of vacant dwellings. This is the Spanish paradox. This exploratory paper attempts to explain this paradox from a welfare regime perspective. The Spanish welfare and housing system has a number of specific characteristics, such as a political ideology and culture of homeownership, a history of strong rural to urban migration, a large role for the family, and a relatively strict rent regulation and tenant protection. The paper will show that all these characteristics contribute to the Spanish paradox. The paper will also indicate how the Spanish paradox relates to the speculative bubble in the Spanish property sector that has recently burst.