Rent regulation as a means of protecting tenants in the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939) – legislation analysis
Abstract
Europe during and after the First World War struggled with tenants being overburdened by rental costs. This can be explained by the war damage, which also included residential buildings, and the desire of the landlords of undamaged flats to increase rents to make more profit. This paper presents the most important elements of Polish legislation regulating rents after 1918. Fixing rents at the June 1914 rates was a far-reaching restriction on landlords’ freedom to make housing more accessible to the less well-off. In presenting the effects of the measures introduced, particular attention was paid to other problems affecting Poland at the time – housing overcrowding and its poor standards. Indeed, the housing shortage was a challenge successive governments faced from the beginning of the reborn Polish Republic. This paper is divided into three parts: a presentation of the situation in the housing market in the first years of the Second Polish Republic, a discussion of legislation aimed at protecting tenants, and an analysis of its effects. It appears that overprotecting tenants from the effects of increased housing demand has exacerbated the problem through reduced construction, refurbishment, and increased housing supply. Thus, tenant protection has not had the desired effect and has even aggravated the situation of the poorest tenants. Polish regulations were compared to analogous laws in other countries, primarily the First Austrian Republic.
Keywords:
tenants’ rights, rent regulation, Second Polish Republic (1918–1939), housing, residential tenancyReferences
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University of Warsaw https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0509-3375
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