Andy Burnham launches consultation on Good Landlord Charter

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, warned that he will not let bad landlords “off the hook”, ahead of launching a consultation on the combined authority’s Good Landlord Charter this morning.

In an interview this morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, Burnham said that the government spends approximately £500m per year on housing benefit for privately rented homes in Greater Manchester without any assurance of the quality of the homes provided by landlords.

He said that a quarter of private rented homes in Greater Manchester are not maintained to the decent homes standard. He added, “Can anybody defend that?”.

Burnham said: “Many landlords trying to do the right thing, but there are some who are not and I’m not going to let them off the hook.”

>> See also: Greater Manchester authority could take homes off failing landlords, says mayor

>> See also: Housing Ombudsman takes on powers to order wider landlord policy changes

He stated that landlords signed up to the charter will receive recognition that they are upholding standards and that it will be a “positive, improvement route” for them. He added that it will prevent decent landlords from being tarred with the same brush as those who are not “doing the right thing”. 

Burnham also said that in the Greater Manchester devolution deal it had negotiated the possibility of linking housing benefit to the new Good Landlord Charter.

Burnham questioned: “Should you be able to receive public money in respect of renting out your property but not maintain that home to a decent standard?”. 

The Good Landlord Charter will cover social landlords and landlords in the private rented sector. It will be a voluntary agreement that housing providers can choose to sign up to. 

Burnham said that the charter will go beyond the “minimum” and be based on “the very important principle” that “people’s homes should not damage their physical or their psychological health”.

The standards and timetables for repairs to homes contained in the charter will be determined based on the consultation.

Examples of the proposed criteria include the need for properties to meet an EPC C rating as a minimum, and that landlords will need to make or facilitate reasonable adaptations to properties where required, while tenants will be able to make reasonable changes to their home. 

Alongside the charter, there are proposals to introduce Greater Manchester property checks, which would give tenants living in properties where the landlord refuses to engage with local bodies or the charter the right to request a check on the standard of their home.

The Good Landlord Charter is being developed under the £1.5 million GMCA-funded programme, the Good Landlord Scheme.

The Good Landlord Scheme also aims to enhance the enforcement capacity of Greater Manchester councils, by addressing the shortage of qualified enforcement officers through a new training programme and advanced on-the-job training, as well as supporting councils to pursue discretionary licensing schemes.

>> See also: Greater Manchester authority could take homes off failing landlords, says mayor

>> See also: Housing Ombudsman takes on powers to order wider landlord policy changes

The combined authority’s £2.1 million private rented sector Enforcement Pathfinder Project, funded by DLUHC, aims to enhance formal enforcement and civil penalties.

This will allow for fines of up to £30,000 to be issued, which can be reinvested back into enforcement efforts.

The public consultation into the Good Landlord Charter opened this morning and will close at midday on 26 February 2024.