ABSTRACT
Private rented housing in the United Kingdom (UK) provides a relatively small share of the total stock of housing and contains a high proportion of pre-1919 housing. The UK private rented sector is practically unique in having so much complex legislation formulated and implemented by successive governments on the basis of political dogma and unsubstantiated conventional wisdom. Rent control diminishes the incentives for tenants to ‘ration’ accommodation for it encourages the continued occupation of large houses by small families who would, in a free market, either sublet or move to smaller dwellings. Faced with a fixed rent and inadequate return on capital, a landlord will adjust the quality of the housing services offered during the tenancy. Rent control can be seen to result in a ‘shortage’ of rental accommodation as a consequence of both supply-side and demand-side effects. According to the empirical evidence, rent control also causes an expansion of demand.
