Housing Restitution and Privatisation: Both Catalysts and Obstacles to the Formation of Private Rental Housing in the Czech Republic and Estonia

The return of property expropriated during the communist period to previous owners or to their descendants (property restitution) led to the quick emergence of a private rental sector in many post-communist countries soon after 1990. This article compares the genesis of private rental tenure in the Czech Republic and Estonia. Its main goal is to demonstrate how state interventions have influenced tenure choice, the formation of social norms, and thus the permanent perception of private renting.