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
seven - The nature of tenancy relationships: landlords and young people
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
This book is concerned with the private rented sector (PRS) in a new century. However, the focus of this chapter is upon ‘the oldest, most common, and perhaps because of it, the most neglected of contractual relations’ (Englander, 1983, p 4) –those between private landlord and tenant. This chapter is specifically concerned with current relationships in the PRS between the main providers of accommodation, that is, individuals operating on a small scale for whom landlordism is not their main occupation, and the main consumers of accommodation – young people under the age of 25. The discussion presented here, rather than exploring exceptional or extreme behaviour in the sector, centres upon the typicalities of day-to-day relationships between the parties and how they manage interactions and exchanges with each other.
The role that the PRS has played in accommodating British households has changed significantly during the 20th century. At the beginning, the PRS catered for generalised housing need with 90 per cent of the population renting privately (Kemp, 1992). However, the sector has declined considerably over the century. The reasons for this decline are widely documented elsewhere (see, for example, Kemp, 1997) and it is not within the scope of this chapter to detail the trend other than to highlight that in 1998/99 the sector comprised approximately 10 per cent of all households (McConaghy et al, 2000) and now performs a specialised role in providing accommodation to young and mobile households, particularly those on low incomes (Kleinman et al, 1996; Rugg, 1999).
Following successive deregulation in the 1988 and 1996 Housing Acts, the PRS has become increasingly regarded as a transitional and residual sector (Rugg, 1999) particularly in association with its role of housing single young people and vulnerable households. Although the sector is small, it nevertheless performs a crucial role in providing accommodation for young people who have become “the key demand group” (Kemp, 1993, p 72; see also Chapters One and Two in this volume). Secondary analysis of the Survey of English Housing 1996/97 showed that 60 per cent of all independent, childless young people aged 16–25 – 628,000 individuals – lived in the PRS (Rugg and Burrows, 1999), highlighting the significance of the sector for young people as alternative tenures have become less accessible or desirable (see, for example, Anderson, 1999; Ford, 1999).
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- The Private Rented Sector in a New CenturyRevival or False Dawn?, pp. 95 - 108Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2002