ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the reasons why the supply of private rented housing decreased during most of the twentieth century. It discusses private renting under the Conservatives in the 1980s; considers proposals for reform in the 1980s and 1990s. Landlords needed to raise about two-thirds of the value of their property on mortgage, and if interest rates increased, landlords passed on the cost as much as possible in higher rents in order to maintain profitability. Rent control was first introduced by the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest Act of 1915. With the introduction of fair rents in the unfurnished sector by the Rent Act of 1965, landlords of unfurnished dwellings were induced to convert to furnished tenure. The Rent Act of 1974 undoubtedly had an effect upon the market for private rented accommodation, but it is difficult to differentiate the effects of the Act from the effects of soaring property prices which tempted landlords to sell off their housing.
