ABSTRACT
Two of the most common platitudes relating to the state of housing in England are first, that the private rented sector, in terms of its percentage of the market, is in continual and irreversible decline, and second, that the condition of this sector is generally poor. The reality is that the market is as segmented in relation to property type, as it is in relation to tenant and landlord 'type'. Civil actions by tenants are crucially affected by the terms of the contractual agreement between the tenant and the landlord. Until 1985, the Standard of Fitness was both the trigger for intervention by local authorities and one of the implied covenants imposed on landlords. The powers and duties associated with the 1954 Fitness standard were contained primarily in the housing act 1936. Although houses in multiple occupation make up a relatively minor part of the English housing stock in these houses that some of the worst conditions are found.
