|
|
Tenant and Landlords in the Jewish Settlement in Palestine
| Relations between tenants and landlords can be considered analogous to those between workers and employers (owners of means of production, or upper-middle managerial positions). The landlord, the owner of property, will thus be considered to have power and control over the tenant, in similar manner to that of the employer over the worker, selling his/her labor power and skills. Nevertheless, we shall argue in this paper, a detailed study of relations between tenants and landlords, based on institutions of arbitration, may reveal more diverse relations of power and shifting relative advantage.
Cases brought both by tenants and landlords, before institutions of arbitration belonging either to the Jewish labor movement or the municipality of Tel Aviv, point to the diversity among tenants and between tenants and landlords:
Among tenants. . Some tenants were able to establish an advantageous position in relation to others by one of two means – first, by sub-letting a part of the rented unit, thus ensuring their ability to determine the conditions of those entering as sub-tenants (e.g. – rate paid, use of kitchen, use of bathroom). Second, by use of force and manipulation, at times reinforcing relations of sub-rental, at times reversing them.
Among tenants and landlords. Despite the obvious difference between those owning property (thus able to rent it or parts of it) and those lacking such ownership, material and legal conditions intervened in the relations between the propertied and propertyless. Two major factors effecting these relations were: first, the shifting material conditions of both landlords and tenants affecting the relative use of the space owned by the landlord, and shared by owner and tenant. Second, the legal system of tenancy-protection enabled the latter to safe guard their basic needs under conditions of dire shortange of housing and rapid increase in cost of living. At times, the legal system was far more advantageous for the tenant than for the landlord.
To conclude, we are not arguing for any reverse of power and control between those owning property and those renting it. Nevertheless, a combination of social, economic and legal factors challenge a simple class perspective between bourgeois landlords and working class tenants.
|
|
|
|
