Ghidul bunelor practici de închiriere în România

Each country has their specific institutional context (e.g. tenancy laws) and policies (e.g. social assistance) that directly or indirectly influence tenants’ and landlords’ practices and their relationship. Some countries, including Romania, have few policy/legal stipulations for renting, leaving the relationship to the market based on contract agreements, as opposed to other states where the market is regulated in detail. The way regulations or the lack thereof play out in the market is complex, leading to different forms of discrimination and to specific mixes of formal, informal and illegal practices. 

However, local markets within a country also differ. For instance, demographic pressure in economically successful cities or otherwise attractive places makes housing expensive, giving landlords market-power over tenants notwithstanding the legal regime: rents are high for property quality and landlords benefit from tenant turnover as they can easily increase rents, with properties going off markets at speed. This is called a ‘landlord market’, and the AFFECTIVE-PRS research found that the only Romanian city that somewhat resembled it is Cluj-Napoca. Conversely, in cities with shrinking population there is larger supply and smaller demand, a context that lends market-power to tenants, nurturing a more balanced tenant/landlord relationship. This is called a ‘tenant market’, and we found that most Romanian cities and towns, including the capital of Bucharest resemble it closely.

Our recommendations reflect therefore a tenant/landlord relationship that is legally based on contractual agreements, structurally developed within a ‘tenant market’, and characterised by socioeconomic, demographic and cultural diversity of both parties. Our recommendations are not abstract or speculative but grounded in the many good practices that our research has unveiled, practices that have been honed in real life and deserve recognition and praise. In this guide we present: our evidence (section 2), our key guiding principles (section 3), the good practices unveiled by our research (section 4), a detailed contractual model (section 5), a detailed model for the Inventory form (section 6) and a model of contract addition for tenants with pets (section 7).