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Housing Law and Policy, by David Cowan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, xlvii + 410 + (bibliography + indexes) 49pp (£29.99 paperback). ISBN 978-0-52-113719-5.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Liam Thornton*
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, School of Law

Abstract

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Type
Book Review
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2013

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References

1. Jones, HwThe rule of law and the welfare state’ (1958) 58(2) Colum L Rev 143 at 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Cowan, D Housing Law and Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011) p 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3. The book excludes Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales from its remit; see ibid, p 14.

4. See Johnson, PSome historical dimensions of the welfare state “crisis”’ (1986) 15(4) J Social Pol'y 443;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Gilbert, N The Transformation of the Welfare State: The Silent Surrender of Public Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Welfare Reform Act 2012.

6. Art 25(1), UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 (UDHR) GA Res. 217 (III), UN GAOR, 3rd Sess., Supp. No. 13, UN Doc. A/810 (1948) 71 (UDHR).

7. Art 11(1), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 (ICESCR) 993 UNTS 3 (ICESCR).

8. General Comment No. 4, ICESCR, The Right to Adequate Housing (Art 11(1)) UN Doc. E/1992/23 (13 December 1991), para 7. This right to housing includes the right to security of tenure, affordability, habitability and culturally appropriate housing.

9. See, generally, General Comment No. 3, ICESCR, The Nature of States Parties Obligations (Art. 2 para. 1), UN Doc. E/1991/23 (14 December 1990), para 9.

10. Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), 4 November 1950, ETS 5. See also Human Rights Act 1998.

11. Chapman v United Kingdom [2001] 33 EHRR 399, para 99.

12. Art 17 UDHR, Art, Protocol 1 ECHR. It should be noted that the right to property is not protected as such in any of the main thematic human rights treaties; however, under Art 2 ICESCR (and other international human rights treaties), human rights are guaranteed without discrimination of any kind with regard to, inter alia, property.

13. 13.Cowan, above n 2.

14. Ibid, pp 3–5.

15. Ibid, pp 6–16.

16. Ibid, pp 16–25.

17. Ibid, pp 7–11.

18. Ibid, pp 21–22.

19. Ibid, pp 11–12.

20. Ibid, p 14.

21. Ibid, part III, ‘Rights and Responsibilities’.

22. Ibid, pp 12–13, 22–23.

23. Defined as those responsible for provision of housing and those with a role of facilitating housing provision: ibid, p 27.

24. Ibid. This includes ownership, private renting, local authority housing and provision of housing by private registered providers.

25. Ibid, p 31.

26. Ibid, p 34.

27. Ibid, p 35.

28. Ibid, pp 37–44.

29. Ibid, pp 44–49.

30. Ibid, pp 44–50.

31. Office of National Statistics ‘How people are living in England and Wales’ (31 January 2013).

32. Cowan, above n 2, pp 54–57.

33. See also Leather, PHousing standards in the private rented sector’ in Cowan, D and Marsh, A (eds) Two Steps Forward: Housing Policy into the New Millennium (London: Policy Press) p 103.Google Scholar

34. Cowan, above n 2, pp 72–75.

35. See Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890; Cowan, above n 2, p 77.

36. Cowan, above n 2, pp 77–78. Note how in 2012, the issue of local authority housing for military families came to the fore: see Housing Minister Grant Shapps MP ‘Housing help for military families’ (29 June 2012), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/housing-help-for-military-families (accessed 17 February 2013).

37. Cowan, above n 2, pp 79–82.

38. Ibid, pp 79–85.

39. Ibid, pp 92–95. See also ch 5, which discusses in detail the role of regulating private registered providers.

40. Ibid, pp 85–87.

41. Ibid, p 87.

42. Ibid, ch 6.

43. Ibid, ch 7.

44. Ibid, ch 9.

45. Ibid, pp 228–239.

46. Ibid, ch 10.

47. Ibid, ch 8.

48. See in particular ibid, ch 11.

49. See eg discussion on homelessness criteria (ibid, pp 162–173) and discussion on housing benefit (pp 230–233) and on the role of the rent officer.

50. For more on property as a status indicator, see Davidson, NmProperty and relative status’ (2009) 107 Mich L Rev 757;Google Scholar deLondras, F Principles of Irish Property Law (Dublin: Clarus Press, 2011) ch 1.Google Scholar

51. Above 2, ch 11.

52. Ibid, ch 12.

53. Ibid, chs 14, 16.

54. Ibid: ch 13 with regard to property state and condition; ch 15 on antisocial behaviour.

55. See in particular discussion of arrears (ibid, pp 332 et seq) and the discussion on the role of antisocial behaviour and housing (ibid, pp 354–358).

56. For a full list of David Cowan's work, see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/law/people/david-s-cowan/publications.html (accessed 17 February 2013).

57. See Garland, D The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).Google Scholar