Introduction To Housing Law

This text describes and explains the main features of housing law as applied to the modern housing market in the private and public sectors. It addresses basic issues such as status, security of tenure and rent and repair rights.

A human right to housing represents the law's most direct and overt protection of housing and home. Unlike other human rights, through which the home incidentally receives protection and attention, the right to housing raises housing itself to the position of primary importance. However, the meaning, content, scope and even existence of a right to housing raise vexed questions. Drawing on insights from disciplines including law, anthropology, political theory, philosophy and geography, this book is both a contribution to the state of knowledge on the right to housing, and an entry into the broader human rights debate. It addresses profound questions on the role of human rights in belonging and citizenship, the formation of identity, the perpetuation of forms of social organisation and, ultimately, of the relationship between the individual and the state. The book addresses the legal, theoretical and conceptual issues, providing a deep analysis of the right to housing within and beyond human rights law. Structured in three parts, the book outlines the right to housing in international law and in key national legal systems; examines the most important concepts of housing: space, privacy and identity and, finally, looks at the potential of the right to alleviate human misery, marginalisation and deprivation. The book represents a major contribution to the scholarship on an under-studied and ill-defined right. In terms of content, it provides a much needed exploration of the right to housing. In approach it offers a new framework for argument within which the right to housing, as well as other under-theorised and contested rights, can be reconsidered, reconnecting human rights with the social conditions of their violation, and hence with the reasons for their existence. Shortlisted for The Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2013.

From the very first negotiations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights half a century ago to the present day, socio-economic rights have often been regarded as less enforceable than civil and political rights. The right to adequate housing, even though protecting one of the most basic needs of human beings, has not escaped this classification. Despite its strong foundations in international, regional and domestic legislation, many people are still deprived of one or more of the different key elements that comprise adequate housing. How, then, can international human rights theory and case law be developed into effective vehicles at the domestic level? Rather than focusing merely on possibilities for individualized relief through the court system, The Right to Housing in Law and Society looks into more effective socio-economic rights realization by addressing both conceptual and practical stumbling blocks that hinder a more structural progress at the national level. The Flemish and Belgian housing legislation and policy are used to highlight the problems and illustrate the pathways here presented. While first and foremost legal in its approach, the book also offers a more sociological perspective on the functioning of the right to housing in practice. It shows the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers and students in the fields of international socio-economic rights law and human rights law more generally.

A Guide to Housing Law, Revised Edition, is a complete guide to all aspects of housing law in the United Kingdom. Housing law is complex and varied and this book is a clear and concise introduction to the overall framework of law governing all tenure types. The book builds on the successful previous edition introducing new legislation. The book is practical and is ideal for those who wish to either learn the subject from new or who wish to brush up on their knowledge of this area and to acquaint themselves with new legislation.

This interdisciplinary volume illuminates housing's impact on both wealth and community, and examines legal and policy responses to current challenges. Also available as Open Access.

This internationally edited collection addresses the issues raised by multi-owned residential developments, now established as a major type of housing throughout the world in the form of apartment blocks, row housing, gated developments, and master planned communities. The chapters draw on the empirical research of leading academics in the fields of planning, sociology, law and urban, property, tourism and environmental studies, and consider the practical problems of owning and managing this type of housing. The roles and relationships of power between developers, managing agents and residents are examined, as well as challenges such as environmental sustainability and state regulation of multi-owned residential developments. The book provides the first comparative study of such issues, offering lessons from experiences in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore and China.

Aspects of Housing Law provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and readable account of what is often regarded as a complex and technical area of the law. It is essential reading for students of housing law and those taking courses in housing studies. With comprehensive coverage of all areas covered in an undergraduate course on housing, this concise and clear text covers: homelessness owner-occupation regulation of rents repairs and disrepair succession to tenancies private rented sector social housing anti-social behaviour.