Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen world; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when they are common. But it is to be tolerated as a concession to human frailty, not applauded as desirable in itself. R H Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, 1926
8Whereas it has long been known and declared that the poor have no right to the property of the rich, I wish it also to be known and declared that the rich have no right to the property of the poor. John Ruskin, Unto this Last, 1862
Property has its duties as well as its rights. Thomas Drummond, 1797-1840
Greedy for the property of others, extravagant with his own. Sallust, Catiline ch.5
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results. James Madison, cited The Federalist 1787
As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
Property is organized robbery. George Bernard Shaw
It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly. Bertrand Russell
Few rich men own their property; the property owns them. Robert Ingersoll, speech New York 29 October 1896
Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it. G K Chesterton
Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man. Martin Luther King
If property had simply pleasures, we could stand it; but its duties make it unbearable. In the interest of the rich we must get rid of it. Oscar Wilde
What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is my own. James Joyce, Ulysses
I’ve been so bothered with my property, that I’m tired of it, and don’t mean to save up any more, but give it away as I go along, and then nobody will envy me, or want to steal it, and I shan’t be suspecting folks and worrying about my old cash. Louisa May Alcott, Little Men
How is property given? By restraining liberty; that is, by taking it away so far as necessary for the purpose. How is your house made yours? By debarring every one else from the liberty of entering it without your leave. Jeremy Bentham, A Critical Examination of the Declaration of Rights; Article II
God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it. Euripides
Britain’s social housing crisis: anger on the streets and the families with nowhere to go. Tonight: Property – The True Cost, ITV 2015
There are over 1.3 million families on social housing waiting lists. ibid.
Tonight: Britain’s property crisis. The heartbroken and the homeless. The rise and rise of renting. Overcrowded or on the street? And the relief for those who finally find somewhere to live. Tonight: Britain’s Property Crisis, ITV 2018
After decades of missed building targets, it’s estimated the country needs four million houses right now. ibid.
The average house priced eight times higher than the average wage. ibid.
The right of a landlord to make someone homeless even when they’ve done nothing wrong … It can be whole communities. ibid.
House prices: how high will they go? Has gazumping made an unwelcome return? Why aren’t we building more houses? And a generation who may never own their own home. Tonight: House Prices: How Hight Will They Go? ITV 2022
While the economy was brought to its knees, the value of many properties just kept on rising. ibid.
Business started to borrow money. Lots of it ... The stock market shot into the stratosphere ... It was not long before the extraordinary speculation on the Nikkei found its way into the property market ... A lot of people didn’t want to sell, and so the companies and banks turned to muscle – the yakuza. Misha Glenny, McMafia
It’s the English-speaking world’s favourite game – property. And today the stakes in the game are higher than ever. Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money e5: Safe as Houses, Channel 4 2008
Property ownership was once the preserve of an aristocratic elite. ibid.
Yet the Savings & Loan crisis was a mere tremor compared with the property earthquake that would strike the US market twenty years later … The subprime quake would shake the entire world of finance to its very foundations. ibid.
We tend to think of property as a one-way bet. ibid.
The families who have been ordered out of their homes: the tenants evicted but not told why. There were more than 24,000 of these no-fault evictions last year. The landlords say they are the ones getting a bad deal. Britain needs its private landlords but the system is forcing thousands into homelessness. So should tenants be evicted when they haven’t done anything wrong? Panorama: Evicted for No Reason, BBC 2018
Tenants in the UK have fewer rights than almost anywhere in Europe. Most are on short-term contracts. ibid.
Around 13 million rent from private landlords. ibid.
Most landlords simply won’t rent to people on housing benefit. ibid.
I work in real estate. I plant rats in buildings, cut off the water and power. Sometimes me and my pals go in with baseball bats and force people out of their homes. The Beat that My Heart Skipped 2005 starring Romain Duris & Niels Arestrup & Jonathan Zaccai & Gilles Cohen & Linh dan Pham & Jian-Zhang & Aure Atika & Emmanuelle Devos & Anton Yakolev et al, director Jacuqes Audiard
Subprime mortgages blighted whole neighbourhoods, boarded up houses were vandalised, driving down the value of next-door properties. The Treason Trilogy I: Casino Capitalism, Terror and Doom, 2011
Lives are shattered when people speculate in property. ibid.
Commercial property long term is permanent wealth. Spotless s1e9: Rebound, Nelson to wife, Nelson’s wife to Martin, Canal+ 2015
Manchester: one of Britain’s fastest developing cities. The skyline is being transformed in front of our eyes as thousands of new high-rise homes appear every month. With the population set to double in the next five years there will be property winners and losers. When billions are being invested in the two square miles of the city centre how will this change the lives of everyone who lives and works in this city? Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom I, BBC 2020
Less than 20% of new homes built are affordable. ibid.
There are around 250 living rough on the streets of Greater Manchester. ibid.
Local property developer Tim Healey is building on five sites across the city of Manchester ranging from mill conversions to hotels and new apartments. One of Tim’s largest projects is the creation of a whole new neighbourhood; called Campus, it’s on the site of the old university and includes five hundred apartments. Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom III
Manchester’s newest apartment block – the West Tower – has opened to its first residents today. 44 floors of the West Tower are owned by pension giant Legal & General, and all 350 of its apartments are available to rent. Manctopia: Billion Pound Property Boom IV
The last great vision for high-rise living in Manchester was after the slum clearances of the 1960s when the council wanted to create new communities and streets in the sky. But just 21 years after they were built they were demolished. ibid.
‘The corporation decided for them and it decided wrong.’ ibid. old documentary commentary