The story of how a dictator created a form of housing better than renting or owning is almost too fantastic to believe. Emperor Charles tried to stop a revolution with the 1917 Tenancy Act, but his subjects revolted anyway. More than a century later, the 1917 Tenancy Act is still in place, and it gives Austrian renters a form of housing that combines the advantages of owning with the advantages of renting–and none of the disadvantages.

Cover image: A statue at the imperial crypt of the Hapsburgs in Vienna, Austria. Ben Britten / Flickr

Sources used in this episode:

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/11417359/Germany-the-country-where-renting-is-a-dream.html
• https://www.tenlaw.uni-bremen.de/Brochures/AustriaBrochure_09052014.pdf
• http://www.immobilienwirtschaft.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/fg287/ERES/Presentations/Funk-Rent-control-in-Austria.pdf
• https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2018/02/15/tenants-portland-oregon-gain-new-protections-displacement/
• https://www.tenlaw.uni-bremen.de/Brochures/GermanyBrochure_09052014.pdf
• https://www.naahq.org/sites/default/files/naa-documents/government-affairs/protected/affordable-housing/Rent-Control-Chart.pdf
• https://www.oecd.org/els/family/PH6-1-Rental-regulation.pdf
• https://www.wien.gv.at/english/housing/promotion/pdf/socialhous.pdf
• https://www.npr.org/2019/02/27/698509957/oregon-set-to-pass-the-first-statewide-rent-control-bill