Fulfilling limited expectations: an exploration of the role of the law of disrepair

The extent to which a place feels like a home is related in part to the physical condition of the property and its surrounding environment. Tenants and local authorities have been provided with extensive legal powers to force landlords to remedy defects since the late 19th century. Yet housing conditions within rented property remain poor. Problems relating to the boundaries of legal remedies whilst significant do not provide the only explanation of the failure of the law. This paper explores the way in which the private law on disrepair has been shaped by prevailing attitudes towards social problems from the emergence of the welfare state and has been made more complex by attitudes towards property ownership. It suggests that the resulting ambiguity has limited the expectations of tenants of decent housing and looks to Bourdieu’s theories on habitus for a possible explanation.