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Andy Burnham's Good Landlord Charter - good or bad?

Journalist: Andreea Dulgheru, Medianett Publishing

ended 11. January 2024

Greater Manchester's mayor Andy Burnham has launched a consultation on the Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter, designed to bring together landlords and renters to improve the standards of homes in social housing and the PRS. 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.

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. 

What are your opinions on this initiative? We'd like to hear your views on this matter, and whether you believe this will indeed drive standards in the PRS or not. The comments will be published in a feature for BTL Insider.

 

 

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Whilst any scheme to highlight good landlords and flush out those who give the sector a bad name should be seen as positive, it sadly isn’t the scheme so much as its enforcement and influence that will dictate whether it will achieve it’s goals. Both have been severely lacking from all previous such schemes and initiatives.
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Editor
Harps Garcha
Director at Brooklyns Financial
As someone who owns and rents out properties, and also works as a mortgage adviser for other landlords, I have to say that this proposal is not as good as it sounds. It claims to help both landlords and tenants, but in reality, it will only increase the financial burden on landlords who will have to pay a yearly fee to join the 'voluntary scheme' and deal with more paperwork. Landlords already face many challenges in the rental market, and I don't see how this scheme will help them maintain their properties to a high standard. I agree that there are some bad landlords who need to be stopped, but I think the resources should be spent on targeting them, rather than punishing the good landlords.
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Alastair Hoyne
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
As an investor and landlord with over 20 years in the industry, I've seen schemes to improve the quality of housing stock, come and go. I have properties that are within formal licensing scheme areas and to say they've failed to make a major difference is an understatement. They've simply imposed additional financial penalties on landlords like me, who maintain our properties and take care of our tenants. Good landlords don't need a Charter. In my opinion, blanket schemes are a waste of time, money and resources. To improve relations and the quality of housing stock, schemes need to target serial offenders who brazenly rent out sub-standard homes to desperate people who have little option but to take what's on offer. We don't need administration, we need action and consequences for those who simply don't care.