Andy Burnham, former Labour leadership candidate and now the party’s candidate for Greater Manchester Mayor, has put forward a number of proposals for the city’s Private Rented Sector. 

In a blog on the Inside Housing website, Burnham argued that too many people in Greater Manchester are living in fear of eviction and paying rent above what they can afford.

The MP for Leigh says he would introduce a landlord licensing scheme for the area should he be the first elected mayor of Greater Manchester.

Burnham also explains that he would seek additional powers to regulate rent rises and property standards.

The Labour hopeful uses the column to take a swipe at the late Margaret Thatcher, claiming that the mass sell-off of council houses in the 1980s and 1990s is the root cause of the current housing crisis.

Aditionally, Burnham proposes to increase the provision of social and council housing in all of the city’s ten boroughs as well as designating a proportion of new homes as being ‘rent-to-own’.

The Labour candidate writes that his second priority is to establish a ‘community buy-back fund’ which will provide ‘loan finance to councils to buy out private landlords who fail to maintain properties to the Decent Homes Standard’.

The first Greater Manchester mayoral election is due to take place on May 4 2017 – Burnham’s opposing candidates are yet to be named.

You can read Andy Burnham’s blog in full on the Inside Housing website here.