Talk:History of rent control in England and Wales

I am the author of this piece and this was my first contribution to Wikipedia. It was originally written as part of a guide for Rent Officers (described in the text)when I was a council member of the Institute of Rent Officers (described in the text), a member of their Education Committee and editor for many years of their quarterly journal. I mention this because it seems that some acreditation for the authenticity of the piece is required. Until I retired I was Chief Rent Officer for the City of Westminster and the City of London rent registration areas. I have updated the piece recently through contact with still-serving Rent Officers. I started to re-format it in Wikipedia style which was a pain. When I returned to it after a short break I noticed it had already been edited by someone else. I am extemely grateful to whoever has done this which has excellently captured my own intentions. Thank you. It does not seem to be Wikipedia etiquette to reveal the names of contributors and editors so I hope these few words of thanks will be read by who ever deserves them!

I shall now proceed with the Scottish version which is only in printed form and which will have to have optical character recognition treatment first. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mortal8 (talk • contribs) 11:38, August 17, 2011 (UTC)


 * It's really great work, and I'm certainly incredibly glad to have it here. I've been writing English land law, and the historical background of rent regulation is very useful indeed. It would also be great to know what reference books you'd recommend for this same topic.  Wik idea  14:34, 3 December 2013 (UTC)

Non-English text
I've removed this text from the article, as it's without context to justify having a Welsh (?) paragraph. Perhaps a translation could be added instead?

Ers lonawr 4ydd 1991 mae Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru wedi ymarfer pwerau a roddwyd iddo gan  Ddeddf Tai a Llywodraeth Leol 1989 ac a estynnwyd gan Ddeddf Iaith 1967, ac y mae wedi rhagnodi rhai ffurflenni ar gyfer grantiau ail-wneud tai y gellir eu cyflwyno yn y Gymraeg trwy Offeryn Statudol Grant Ail-wneud Tai ac yn y blaen. (Ffurflenni Rhagnodedig a Manylion) (Ffurflenni Cymraeg a Manylion) Rheoliadau 1991.

-- Khazar2 (talk) 02:35, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

Indigestible
The main problem with this avalanche of detail is that it omits the key points.


 * The 1974 rent act was brought in as a result of public revulsion at the activities of slum-landlords like the notorious Peter Rachman.
 * The actual effect of the act was that privately rented property pretty much disappeared from the market, because there was no way to get rid of the tenants. A vast array of dodges and bribes followed.  The act did not in fact impede the slum landlords, who could rely on gangs of thugs to intimidate tenants into leaving; but it ensured that an ordinary middle class family who bought a rental property would be robbed blind.  This became notorious.
 * In consequence there was always a shortage of quality rental accommodation. People bought throughout the 80s.
 * The 1989 rent act was designed specifically to alleviate the chaos that had been caused by the 1974 rent act. It created the short tenancy, where the landlord could actually guarantee getting his property back.  This led to the vast rise in ordinary people buying houses, a trend only accelerated once it became clear that the pension system would no longer provide for retirement.
 * In 2017 in Scotland a new act has been introduced which will once again make it hard for ordinary landlords to get their property back from a bad tenant.

Any article that doesn't tell the reader this is simply not useful.

I really think that a lot of the stuff in here is simply far too much for a Wikipedia article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.110.138.210 (talk • contribs) 12:53, December 1, 2017 (UTC)