Housing Landlordism in Late Nineteenth-Century Britain

Abstract

The paper examines the form and function of housing landlordism in late nineteenth-century Britain. The first three sections discuss why private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure, and how this form of housing realisation was of advantage to tenants, builders, and investors. The paper then discusses the nature of loan capital in house property and the characteristics of housing to let as an investment. Particular emphasis is placed upon the way in which the form taken by the late nineteenth-century housing market was itself structured by the nature of the wider economy, of which it formed a part.