ABSTRACT
That the dualist rental system in English-speaking countries has remained unquestioned both by policy makers and politicians is something that housing researchers must accept a portion of the responsibility for. They have been largely content to criticise the short-comings of the existing dominant model in a piecemeal fashion, without questioning the terms of the debate and without reference to the development of a coherent alternative. This accepts the unspoken assumptions that lie behind the neo-liberalist profit market model and so the debate is carried on within implicitly accepted consensual boundaries. The widespread appeal for the abolition of mortgage income tax relief in Britain is a classic example of this.
