Urban Law Annual ; Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law Volume 44 January 1993 The Dynamics of Landlord-Tenant Law and Residential Finance: The ompC arative Economics of Home Ownership James C. Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_urbanlaw Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation James C. Smith, The Dynamics of Landlord-Tenant Law and Residential Finance: The Comparative Economics of Home Ownership, 44 Wash. U. J. Urb. & Contemp. L. 03 (1993) Available at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_urbanlaw/vol44/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Urban Law Annual ; Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE DYNAMICS OF LANDLORD- TENANT LAW AND RESIDENTIAL FINANCE: THE COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS OF HOME OWNERSHIP JAMES C. SMITH* I. Introduction ........................................... 4 II. British Housing Market: Context for Privatization ...... 8 A. Private Rental Market ............................. 8 1. Demographic Trends and Social Change Since 1914 ........................................... 8 2. Legal Controls ................................. 16 a. Rent control ................................ 16 b. Security of tenure ........................... 24 c. Habitability ................................. 27 3. Present Status .................................. 30 B. Council Housing ................................... 32 1. Demographic Trends ........................... 32 2. Legal Controls ................................. 36 C. Homeowners ....................................... 40 * Professor of Law, University of Georgia. B.A., 1974, St. Olaf College; J.D., 1977, University of Texas. I would like to thank Paul Heald, Ed Larson, Daniel R. Mandelker, Ed Rabin, Michael Schill, and Alan Watson for their many helpful comments on earlier drafts.