The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has launched a consultation on a new Good Landlord Charter, designed to bringing together landlords and renters to improve the standards of homes in social housing and the PRS.
The charter has been drafted and developed with a coordinating group, which includes Greater Manchester Housing Providers, Greater Manchester Tenants Union, Greater Manchester Student Assembly, Manchester Student Homes, NRLA and Shelter.
If implemented, it will offer a voluntary, opt-in scheme for landlords of all types of rental properties, which will recognise and develop best practice, and provide a new standard for landlord excellence.
Through this charter, the mayor aims to improve standards to ensure renting in Greater Manchester is affordable, inclusive, private and secure, and well managed.
Residents living in properties where the landlord refuses to engage with local bodies or the charter will be empowered with the right to request a Greater Manchester property check.
This will be underpinned by stronger, multi-disciplinary inspection and enforcement capability to carry out the checks and issue notices where standards remain unacceptable, with investment of £3.5m to support local authorities to deliver this.
The Good Landlord Charter is out for public consultation from 10am on 8th January 2024 until 12pm on 26th February 2024.
The charter consultation was launched following research commissioned by the mayor, which found that three quarters of private tenants believe accreditation would make a difference to their likelihood of renting from a particular landlord.
The survey also revealed that three quarters of private tenants experienced a maintenance issue in their property within the last year — such as damp and mould, and broken boilers or heating.
When maintenance problems have been experienced, two in five private tenants have been left dissatisfied with the outcome.
“This work has, in part, been driven by the devastating conclusions of the inquest that followed Awaab Ishak’s death — a two-year-old boy died because of the quality of his home, and we recognised this had to be the moment when things changed,” said Burnham.
“I believe this charter will be good for tenants who currently have no way of knowing whether a landlord is decent or not; and good for the many landlords doing the right thing and struggling to differentiate themselves from the disreputable end of the market.
“The truth is, when we get housing right, we also potentially save billions in public money currently spent dealing with the social crises that come from poor housing situations.”
The Greater Manchester mayor’s initiative was welcomed by several groups, including the NRLA and Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP).
“The vast majority of private landlords across Greater Manchester provide decent housing and a good service to their tenants; we therefore welcome the consultation’s commitment to ensuring those landlords meeting all their legal obligations are properly recognised,” said Chris Norris, policy director at the NRLA.
“As we consider the proposals, it will be vital to ensure that the laudable aims of the charter are backed up by policies to make them a reality — that should include support for those landlords with the hardest to improve properties, improved enforcement to root out rogue and criminal landlords, and ensuring that content of the charter is consistent with forthcoming changes in the Renters Reform Bill.”
