Death for the Minnows: Private Landlords and the Pendulum of Regulation

Abstract Recent housing tragedies and scandals such as Grenfell Tower fire, and the death of a child in Rochdale due to mould, cast a long shadow over the provision of housing and have brought several deficiencies of the private rented sector into the light. Security of tenure and rent control in particular have become significant political issues that framed the housing policies of the two major parties at the last general election. This paper examines the history of key legislative interventions in the regulation of this sector to divine lessons for the present. This is a history of pendulum swings between free markets and market failure, with unintended consequences resulting from poorly developed laws that emerged from political overreactions to problems in the private rented sector. The paper notes the relative success of policy compromises and cooperation with private landlords. The tragic history of landlord and tenant law also provides an unrivalled opportunity to test the assertion of R. H Tawney, that ‘freedom for the pike is death for the minnows.’