Security of Tenure: Competing Interests

Abstract

One of the most problematical and controversial areas of housing iaw is the law relating to the private rented sector. For as long as public authorities, for a variety of reasons, fail to provide adequate housing for everyone who might need it, the private rented sector continues to play an important role in making available accommodation for those who cannot obtain publicly owned housing and who either are not in a sufficiently secure financial position to buy their own home, or are unwilling to undertake such a commitment. For the greater part of this century it has generally been accepted that, even within the context of a basically free market economy, the private rented sector should not be allowed to operate without certain restrictions. Whenever there is a housing shortage tenants are in a vulnerable position as their need for accommodation can easily be exploited. In an unregulated market there is no guarantee that rented accommodation will be of an acceptable standard, or that it will be made available at a price which a tenant can reasonably be expected to pay. Nor is there any guarantee that tenants will have any long term security of tenure in the premises in which they live.