Privatisation of Housing and the Impact of the Conservative Government's Initiatives on Low-Cost Homeownership and Private Renting between 1979 and 1984 in England and Wales: 4. Private Renting

This is the final paper in a series of four which describe and evaluate the British Government's policies of privatising housing. In this paper the policies designed to increase the supply of housing for private renting are examined. The paper has four sections. The first is an examination of the private rented market in the context of Government policy, with emphasis on the way policies about private renting have not been related to the tax and subsidy policies in respect of other tenures. In the second the specific initiatives taken by the Government to stimulate investment are examined. The evidence about the impact which these initiatives have had is looked at in part 3. The fourth part is an examination of why the initiatives have had relatively little impact and it is concluded that it is because they are only marginal solutions to the fundamental economic difficulties faced both by landlords and by tenants.