ABSTRACT
In the late nineteenth century, the 'social question' had created a particular political sensitivity. Nevertheless, it took time for housing market relations to be discovered as an area for social policies. Tenancy relations simply did not become a factor in the nineteenth century in the same way as labour market relations did. The German social legislation had immediate resonance in Sweden. In 1884, the liberal politician Adolf Hedin motioned in the Second Chamber of Parliament for legislation for industrial welfare and for a workers' accident insurance and old age assurance. The reform of housing legislation in Germany came to be part of the general civil legal system, Burgerliches Gesetzbuch, which was adopted as law in 1896 and came into force in 1900. Property owners in Berlin carefully followed the drafting of the new legal code during the 1880s and 1890s, and commented when new drafts when to press.
