The Build To Rent trade body, the UK Apartment Association, is backing the proposals outlined to clampdown on rogue landlords put forward by Labour’s Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham.
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. Earlier this week the proposals went out to formal consultation ahead of an expected implementation later this year.
Now Brendan Geraghty, chief executive of the UKAA, says: “We wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to consult on the market-leading Good Landlord Charter in Greater Manchester. The Charter is excellent news for both landlords and renters in the Manchester city region and the UKAA looks forward to responding accordingly on behalf of our members.”
And Dougie Orton-Wade, chair of the UKAA in the north west region covering Greater Manchester, comments: “The Manchester Good Landlord Charter has the potential to protect renters in the area, as well as to support those landlords who are providing an excellent rental experience. We welcome the principles of the Charter and hope that, along with the UKAA Code of Practice, it can serve as an inspiration for other regions around the UK.”
The association claims the charter aligns closely with its own work on a code of opctice for the Build to Rent sector which is due to go live this spring.
A statement from the association says: “Fundamental to the UKAA Code of Practice is a commitment to environmental, social and governance principles. The document defines not just the conduct of the BTR sector but its culture, covering professional standards, customer service and fair treatment – all of which BTR tenants should be able to expect as standard.”
Burnham first raised the idea of a Good Landlord Charter early in 2023, having made the commitment back in 2021.
At the time 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.”
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These idiots need a day off, I can remember the late 70's and early 80's with council estates in the sky. They turned into drug den's and cheeky ladies of the night. I certainly remember Preston Council pulling down Moor Lane flats in the 90's they scattered all the towns Crackpots everywhere else thinking it would make them behave.
The only thing it did was bring all the other estates behaviour down and turn decent families kids into more Crackpots..!
As long as they make a shilling they will not be bothered, wonder how much the Mayor will be benefitting from this?
The principal of moving the “ wrong-uns” to nice areas to change their behaviour 😂🤔 never has worked and never will. It just spreads the misery.
I remember back in very early 80s Manchester city council did the same thing in Moss Side and Hulme areas. Demolished all council flats and moved the locals to neighbouring middle class Withington. Next thing, Withington became a no go area and nowadays is ra....pe capital of the North West.
Well this nonsense will affect me so I guess a chat with the tenants is needed about the rent increase to come, on top of the annual increase coming in from April 😱😱 Whoops, I will send them to Burnham.
UKAA? Not heard of them until today. 🤔
They don’t talk sense, so can go away. 😉
Can we give the same renters that they house, the right to request a property check, boosting inspection and enforcement capability, and greater accountability against their council run landlords?
The results will be very incriminating for these councils!
Who are these idiots? Why are they so readily willing to hand over property rights? Falling over themselves being work talking about "Fundamental to the UKAA Code of Practice is a commitment to environmental, social and governance principles." Who gives a ****?
Where will they be when they raise rents and in return they get endless repairs, breakages, Ombudsmen sticking their nose in, compensation claims. They'll wish they never got into this sorry business.
Come on Nick, you know they will have sold out to a venture capitalist who will do no repairs, slim down the maintenance contracts, jack up the rents and then resell it on again. The buildings will become unviable and then 400 families will be looking for houses again....! Welcome to 2035 in Manchester
But if the VC buys it, gets a problem tenant (what will be a sitting tenant) will it not devalue the property? Will they not be subject to the same council interference, fines, and ombudsman=compensation awards?
Just before I retired I bid for a big contract with the Scottish Parliament.
There was a questionnaire where I was asked to give the ethnicity, religions, ages, gender and socio-economic class of all my employees who would be engaged in fulfilling the contract.
I replied that since I recruited purely on merit I did not seek the type of information they were asking for.
I was told my tender would not be considered without it and my local Tory MSP refused to get involved because he couldn't intervene in a tender situation.
Presumably Fujitsu have a suitably diverse workforce to justify numerous public sector contracts bankrolled by the overwhelmingly WASP British taxpayer?
Don't know if you heard Radio 4 Today programme yesterday: Burnham being interviewed.
Interviewer mentioned Landlord Today and quoted directly to Burnham a striking/pithy comment that had appeared here about the proposals being bad.
Burnham couldn't answer the valid points directly, only said that the NRLA backed his proposals.
Which when you thought about it just showed how the NRLA doesn't really represent landlords.
Given Gov exemptions from swathes of ‘compliance requirements’ these ‘favoured corporate players ‘ will become the rotating owners of ‘tomorrow’s slums’ on a scale that dwarfs the problems we now see uncovered in social housing.
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