ABSTRACT
Information about controls in the interwar period is scanty, clearly they remained strong in Germany and had, at the other extreme, ended soon after 1918 in the United States of America and later in Denmark. From 1948 new dwellings not controlled and an elaborate scheme was introduced for pre-1949 property. As the European economies recovered and post war housing shortages began to ease , pressure for decontrol grew. Political battles took place between landlords and tenants, the former arguing for an diminuition of social rented housing and the extension of the role of the private landlord, the latter arguing the reverse. In France though the main emphasis was on liberalisation. In 1953 the government announced that controls would be ended by 1958 but there was strong opposition and this did not occur. By the late seventies there was still very complex rent setting arrangements in most countries had been able to proceed as fast as they desired with total decontrol.
