The newly re-elected Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester – Andy Burnham – wants to end Right To Buy on new-build homes and has pledged a crackdown on rogue private landlords.

Writing in The Guardian, Burnham says one of the reasons why housing often doesn’t feature at many elections is because promises at past elections to build hundreds of thousands of homes simply aren’t meaningful. 

But now he says: “Just as Greater Manchester was first to end deregulation of buses, we now want to see the suspension of the right to buy policy from any new council homes we build in our city-region” as part of a plan to solve the housing crisis.

Burnham states: “One of the main reasons why the country has not built enough social homes for decades is because of the right to buy policy. Councils do not have an incentive to fund the building of new homes if they can be sold off cheaply and quickly. In the face of a desperate housing crisis, the existence of right to buy means we are in effect trying to refill a bath without being allowed to put the plug back in.”

He proposes to build “a new generation of council homes” in all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester and at least 10,000 within this four year mayoral term. 

“To raise standards, we will bring in a new good landlord charter and give our residents in rented accommodation the right to request a property check. We will take tougher enforcement against landlords who rent out unfit and unsafe homes, including making much greater use of compulsory purchase powers.”

Burnham’s Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter has many controversial ideas including giving all renters the right to request a property check, boosting  inspection and enforcement capability, and greater accountability of landlords to tenants. 

When he first raised the idea of a Good Landlord Charter early in 2023, having made the commitment back in 2021., he said it would cover both the private and social housing sectors, and he commented: “Once again, Greater Manchester is leading the way and making a decisive move towards a new approach – one that we hope will join the dots between housing, health, wellbeing, and everything in between.

“From the way he led the government response to the appalling death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale, I know that the Secretary of State understands the importance of this, and why we need better housing, stronger enforcement, and greater accountability across the board. 

“So do many partners across our city-region’s social and private rented sector – which is why we want to work with them to create a Charter that is as fair and robust as possible, and establishes a clear set of expectations for landlords and tenants.”