RENT REGULATION: A CONCEPTUAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Rent regulations can take many forms and have different purposes. It is argued that the often-used distinction between first- and second-generation rent control is too crude to be useful. Five main types of rent control are identified instead. The first dimension concerns whether the control covers rent changes for sitting tenants or rents generally. The second dimension is whether the aim is to protect the tenants against rents over the market level, against sudden big increases in rents or if the aim is to keep rents permanently below market levels in attractive areas. The typology is used to classify and compare the rent control systems in a number of European countries and North American cities. It is also used to describe typical patterns of change from 'harder' to 'softer' rent controls.