Improving the private rented sector : the impact of changes in ownership and of local authority policies.

The thesis examines evidence on the impact which both local authority policy and changes in the ownership of private rented houses have had on physical conditions in the sector. Part 1 describes the research objectives and contains a literature review which provides a wider context for the research, by examining the size, role, conditions and landlords of private rented housing. It shows that its decline and poor conditions are due as much to the low demand of poor tenants and to discriminatory tax/subsidy policies as to regulation of the sector. Part 2 discusses the results of a linked survey of private rented properties, tenants and landlords done in Sheffield in 1979-80, shows that local authority policy did succeed in getting conditions improved, but that the type of landlord was important too. Part 3 discusses the results of a 1985-86 follow up survey of this panel which examines the scale of investment by landlords in the six years, their motives and the impact of this and local authority policy on physical standards. Part 4 reports the results of a 1987 survey of northern and midlands local authorities, shows that Sheffield's experience of new property dealers and property milkers is found elsewhere, analyses how authorities use their discretionary powers to improve physical structures and evaluates proposals to amend them. Part 5 summarises the research findings and shows how both the regulatory and the economic and financial framework has shaped investment in private renting in the 1980s and had consequence for standards. It then considers the likely consequences of deregulation, shows that on its own it will lead to neither a revival of private renting nor an improvement in physical standards. It enumerates desirable changes which would achieve both competitive returns for landlords and affordable habitable housing for tenants