The social vibe of the tenant/landlord relationship in a ‘tenant market’: the case of Romania

Abstract

There has recently been a burgeoning interest in private rental housing, yet few studies have addressed the tenant/landlord relationship as lived. This paper contributes related insights from the ‘young’ markets of Eastern Europe where the tenant/landlord relationship is entirely market based but embedded in specific cultural norms and supply/demand balances. Drawing on cultural theories of risk and rich qualitative data from tenants and landlords in Romania, this paper examines narratives of risk and repertoires of risk mitigation practices of the relational risks of renting. Findings portray a supply-rich market where tenants have market power hence financial checks on tenants are socially unacceptable, evictions are rare, and most tenants feel at home in their rented properties. In this tenant market, landlords rely on the social vibe of the first tenant/landlord encounter, showing openness to construct win-win collaborations. These less institutionalised practices seem more inclusive to tenants’ economic unpredictability but high rents push the poor, and ethnic stigmatisation drives the Roma ‘others’ into alternative housing.