Professional experts and lay knowledge in Vancouver’s accessory apartment rental market

Pablo Mendez

Environment and Planning A, 2016, vol. 48, issue 11, 2223-2238

Abstract: Over the past few decades, many homeowners in North American cities have engaged in the practice of converting under-utilised spaces in their house (such as basements and attics) into self-contained apartments known as accessory dwelling units or secondary suites. Such apartments are then often rented out in order to generate ‘mortgage helper’ revenue. Homeowners-cum-landlords often benefit from professional expertise received from real estate agents and mortgage brokers at the initial stages of entering this private rental housing market. But interviews I conducted in Vancouver with homeowners renting out secondary suites reveal that the ‘lay expertise’ required to navigate ongoing participation in this rental market is often generated by homeowner-landlords themselves. All the same, the interviews also provide evidence that not all homeowner-landlords succeed in developing or acquiring sufficient lay expertise. The production and circulation of this lay knowledge, I conclude, are contingent rather inevitable processes.

Keywords: Expert knowledge; lay knowledge; housing markets; accessory dwelling units; secondary suites (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:48:y:2016:i:11:p:2223-2238

DOI: 10.1177/0308518X16657550

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