We selected our sample for the intensive and extensive surveys from the records of households who had recently been rehoused by their local authority from the private rented sector into council accommodation. This gave us a sample of lettings in which a complete or partial vacancy had been created as, at each address we selected, at least one household space had been vacated in the recent past.

When an individual or household applies for rehousing by a local authority, details of that household's personal and housing circumstances are recorded. These include information about family structure, the applicant's employment circumstances and housing conditions. For those applicants living in the private rented sector the landlord's name and address, if known, is recorded, as well as the name of the agent or other person to whom rent is paid. Thus these records provide a list, albeit partial and incomplete, of a proportion of the landlords who own property in these boroughs.

The sample was chosen from a list of those households who had been registered on the housing waiting list for varying lengths of time, and had been rehoused by Hackney and Islington over a two year period, ending in May 1980 in Hackney and September 1979 in Islington.