Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- one The new private rented sector
- two Private renting in the 21st century: lessons from the last decade of the 20th century
- three Housing benefit and social security
- four Rents and returns in the residential lettings market
- five The private rented sector in rural areas
- six Rental housing supply in rural Scotland: the role of private landowners
- seven The nature of tenancy relationships: landlords and young people
- eight Unlawful eviction and harassment
- nine Changing Rooms: the legal and policy implications of a burgeoning student housing market in Leicester
- ten The Scottish system of licensing houses in multiple occupation
- eleven Housing conditions in the private rented sector within a market framework
- twelve Room for improvement: the impact of the local authority grant system
- thirteen New law, new policy
- References
- Index
eleven - Housing conditions in the private rented sector within a market framework
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- one The new private rented sector
- two Private renting in the 21st century: lessons from the last decade of the 20th century
- three Housing benefit and social security
- four Rents and returns in the residential lettings market
- five The private rented sector in rural areas
- six Rental housing supply in rural Scotland: the role of private landowners
- seven The nature of tenancy relationships: landlords and young people
- eight Unlawful eviction and harassment
- nine Changing Rooms: the legal and policy implications of a burgeoning student housing market in Leicester
- ten The Scottish system of licensing houses in multiple occupation
- eleven Housing conditions in the private rented sector within a market framework
- twelve Room for improvement: the impact of the local authority grant system
- thirteen New law, new policy
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the evidence in England about the extent to which landlords respond to market signals when spending on repairs and improvements. The majority of this housing sector is now within the deregulated sub-sector and hence it is the market that sets rents for most dwellings, not the rent officer. In the past, grants have been available from local authorities to help fund improvements and repairs. Except in very limited circumstances, this is no longer the case. The government's view is that market rents should provide the resources for landlords to undertake maintenance and to make improvements. Conditions are thus now much more dependent than in the past upon the extent to which market signals (rents and capital values) provide incentives to landlords to undertake the work that is needed and also upon their willingness and ability to act upon these. Although local authorities have powers to enforce repairs, the successful use of these powers depends upon the market generating returns and the resources for landlords to respond.
The evidence is summarised in five sections:
• the policy framework, before and after rent deregulation;
• evidence about changing conditions;
• the extent to which spending on repairs and improvements is related to landlords’ characteristics;
• the relationship between rents, capital values, investment returns, and conditions; and
• policy implications of this evidence.
Policy before and after deregulation
Until rent deregulation in 1989, post-war policy about conditions was framed within a context of rent control and regulation and the general acceptance that the private rented sector would continue to decline. The aims were to protect the health and safety of existing tenants, accepting implicitly that significant improvements would primarily result from the transfer of dwellings to other tenures.
Policy was directed towards achieving improvements through the statutory enforcement of repairs and other standards, the payment of grant aid to assist landlords with the costs of major repairs and (latterly) improvements, and with the purchase of the worst housing by local authorities and housing associations. These measures were needed because the majority of the sector was subject to rent regulation making it difficult for landlords to finance repairs and improvements.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Private Rented Sector in a New CenturyRevival or False Dawn?, pp. 153 - 176Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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