The Private Rental Sector in Australia: living with uncertainty

The complex nature of the Private Rental Sector (PRS) in Australia has been analysed by three Australian renowned experts: Alan Morris, Hal Pawson and kath Hulse in the book entitled ‘The Private Rental Sector in Australia: Living with Uncertainty’. The content of the volume is announced in the Preface that introduces the main themes of the book, explored later in 8 chapters structuring the research around the most challenging aspects of the PRS in Australia nowadays. The authors demonstrate the complexity of the PRS, explore its background, development, current situation, and prospective future from the legal, social, economic, and psy-chological perspectives. The book is the result of 10 years of field research conducted by Morris, Pawson and Hulse in high, medium, and low rent areas of Sydney and Melbourne, two major Australian cities known for their expensive and complicated housing scene. The richness and origi-nality of the book rests on its empirical base, including the experiences of tenants (600 renters interviewed, including 200 long-term renters) com-ing from different backgrounds and socio-economic statuses. The authors were motivated to analyse and describe the quality and condition of the accommodations, terms and conditions of the tenancy agreements, rela-tionships with the landlords, (in)security of tenure, and rent and housing perspectives for the future. This makes the volume a valuable contribution to the discussion on PRS not only in the Australian context, but also in the international context.