Newly re-elected Greater Manchester Labour Mayor Andy Burnham is to spend £600,000 of council tax payers’ cash on a clampdown on landlords.
This includes a Good Landlord Charter, set to be rolled out later this year, to set out “clear, practical, and accessible standards to drive up the quality of renting in Greater Manchester.”
And there will be a Property Check scheme “to help those who feel trapped by their housing situation by giving them the right to request a property check, carried out by local teams and followed up with enforcement action where necessary.”
Burnham says that throughout Greater Manchester, around 23 per cent (56,000) of private rented homes and just under 17 per cent (82,000) of all rented homes do not meet the legal Decent Homes Standard.
And he claims: “But since many tenants feel unable to raise complaints for fear of eviction, it’s thought the true number of substandard rentals may be as high as 40 per cent.”
He says his council’s recent survey of private tenants in Greater Manchester found that in the past year:
- 43 per cent of private tenants had experienced damp and mould;
- 31 per cent had been without hot water or central heating;
- 20 per cent had experienced broken electrics;
- 20 per cent were living in a property with a leaky roof; and
- 12 per cent were living with a pest infestation.
Greater Manchester’s Labour council is investing £150,000 in a pilot with Salford City Council and central government to explore how these checks can be used effectively and proactively and help identify properties that fall short of the Decent Homes Standard – a legal requirement when the Renters Reform Bill which Burnham believes will come into law later this year.
There will be two further projects:
Tackling illegal evictions: The Renters ReformBill will introduce a new duty on local authorities to tackle unlawful evictions and harassment of tenants. Greater Manchester is investing £300,000 to set up a new team of housing law experts, providing advocacy and support to renters and strengthening enforcement capacity.
Using the benefits system to improve standards: When the Renters Reform Bill is made law, it will become illegal for landlords to rent out homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard. £150,000 is being made available to support a new pilot with Oldham Council exploring how authorities can work together to claim back housing benefit from landlords letting out substandard homes.
Burnham himself says: “Today we drive forward the next phase of Greater Manchester’s mission to tackle the housing crisis and get serious about housing standards.
“Everyone across our city-region deserves a good, safe, and secure home. It should be the starting point for a good life. It should not damage your health or be a source of concern and anxiety.
“Sadly, too many people in Greater Manchester still find themselves in those situations, trapped in poorly maintained properties and in fear of unlawful eviction. But the days of bad landlords renting out unsafe and unfit homes are coming to an end.
“This new right to a property check for all residents, backed up with new measures to protect renters and take action against rogue landlords, will empower people across Greater Manchester and put us on course to become the UK’s only Housing First city-region.”
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Labour = very good at wasting other people’s money
I find his figures hard to believe, unless he polled social housing tenants.🤔
£600,000 not spent on vitally needed public services then. Instead, wasted on a load of council numpties and more red tape achieving absolutely nothing other than waving their big woke flag.
Its a never ending cycle
Labour get in and waste everything
Tories get in and build up the coffers
Then… ad nauseam…
You'd be forgiven for thinking Labour and Tories were in cahoots with each other and their "hatred" of each other was just drama for the viewing masses on TV!
Hang on a minute.....anyone waking up yet?
A S, rarely do I agree with George Galloway but I cannot fault hid description of them as two cheeks of the same bum. Apparently a** is a swear word. Dear Lord what a sheltered life this website lives yet does noting about breaches of data protection!😡
AL - haha, just as well there isn't an article about donkeys, we wouldn't be able to comment at all!
I do admire Gorgeous George's oratory skills. Unfortunately he's got it completely wrong chasing the Islamic vote, maybe he's hoping he'll be the last to be eaten by that particular crocodile.
Bit different this time though George. Tories come in nowt in the coffers but when they get their back sides kicked later year- there be nowt for labour to spend so it’s RAISE TAXES time .
A S, aren’t all politicians donkeys? 😂
He seems to forget that tenants lie and exaggerate about property conditions.
No mention of how bad tenants are going to be called out. Where’s the balance in any of this legislation? I’m not holding my breath.
Yes, what action will be taken if a tenant does not pay?
That’s good Andy another £150.k to waste to reduce housing supply..
The attack continues on Private landlords and when they get serious with you and your scam they’ll be refusing Social housing Tenants no point in letting under threat of Repayment Order unless its part of your plan to help the Big Boys Corporate take over.
Maybe its your way of cutting the benefit Bill but too cowardly to say so, its they who elected you as what happened in London, just blame the landlords instead very popular excuses .
Any landlords in the UK still renting to benefits claimants need their heads examined.
Forty-three per cent of private tenants had experienced damp and mould? 1) The problem is the cost of heating has gone sky high due to the government's crazy policies; 2) tenants do not ventilate sufficiently and adequately the property they live in; 3) last but not least, although there is a washer/dryer in the flat I rent, tenants hang clothes to dry everywhere around to save on Bill. I lived on the same property when I was younger and never experienced dampness and mould; when tenants move in, the problem arises: who do you think is responsible for this? Can the honourable mayor of Manchester reason for a second and come to the correct conclusion?
£300’000.00 by Manchester to proactively force private landlords to house Social Tenants that the Council don’t want, its a bargain isn’t it then rob the money back from the landlord.
I dont know about the rest - but of the 31% who experienced a lack of hot water or heating it's most likely that their boiler needed minor work such as repressurising (which they could do themselves using You Tube) and that it was fixed within a day. The 31% may be correct, but its and abuse of statistics to imply that this is a problem.
Unfortunately they deliberately avoided the other stats in this important survey that reveal the real truth...
96% of tenants think rent is to high
94% of tenants think they deserve a better property
99% of tenants think they're landlord is getting rich off their backs
100% support rent freeze, property for life and rent holidays when things are tough
Not sure where Burnham thinks he has authority for housing. Housing is not GreaterManchester’s brief. It’s the metro boroughs who have the duty t prosecute. Typical grandstanding from Burnham who has already wasted £60m on his 2022 CAZ scheme whose signage and cameras have stickers saying “under review”.
I wonder whether Manchester local authorities will focus their efforts on the rented properties owned by:
- Housing associations,
- The Council itself
Where the majority of the problems can be identified?
Thought not.. Let's hammer the small private landlords. They may find 1 problem after 100 inspections, drag the landlord to court and claim "I told you so, good use of this taxpayers money!".
I wonder how they collect or qualify their stats. I had a tenant who complained about mould behind a wardrobe. Never opened the windows, dried clothes on radiator and hair with hairdryer. The room was humming. Clearly I need to be clamped down on. At another there were reports of rats. It got dealt with the next day with pest control at my expense (never mind the open food waste bins that basically had ratsRwelcome signs pointing to them. But I need to be clamped down on. Or a boiler decided to pack up, visit the same day condemned it and was replaced within 48hrs (had to wait for restocking or it would have been sooner). Again, I must be a rogue landlord who needs to be clamped down on.
Our new Lib Dem council is spunking £11m on changing the seats in a threatre that was only built 20 years ago, to "green" seats.
With power comes great responsibility and when the lefties get hold of it they are like kids in a sweet shop as they know it's a once in a generation opportunity to drive the steam train. Problem is they quite often derail it during play time.
And what will the metro mayor do when he has no private landlords left at all. Many have left the sector, many more plan to
Any rate Mr Burnham you and your buddies kill off the PRS, then you can house everyone. And if you can't homelessness is your fault and the likes of Shelter, Generation Rent and various militant 'Renters Unions'.
Yes but meantime, landlords bashing is a sure vote winner.. that's the only consideration here.
43% is a lovely figure very similar to the one used by Shelter to bring in the unnecessary Deposit Scheme in 2007 causing more landlords to deduct from the Deposit to cover their extra costs and the incumbent of the conditions imposed on landlords by the Scheme possibly making their Tenancies Agreement null & void, or pay them 3 Deposits back that they never received + their Deposit, really we are all equal under the laws, did this one make it to the Statute Books.
The punch line is the allege 43% turned out to be less than 2%, could it be the same with mold no point in telling a little fib is there.
Incidentally I don’t have any mould or reported mould in any of my properties factor that in.
There’s never news of a Landlords Charter to support against rouge non paying, property damaging tenants!
Sadly this is a taste of things to come under Labour.
Slowly but surely decent landlords will leave this sector leaving organised crime to step in, where have our properties we have already seen threats made to council inspectors who very quickly drop the inspection once they realise they are the ones in danger. All of this will not end well at all.
You mean "~responsible landlords" as Bungling Boy Beadle would say.
It is quite simple the aim is to raise fines on Private Landlords.
What are we to do with the less than Perfect Tenants .
Be very very careful we don't get landed with them in the first place. 5* gold plated tenants only need apply for tenancy
Plenty of threat's made to Private Landlords by inspectors, not physical threats but certainly financial threats I have had them, some rubbish they don’t know one end of a house from another just buttons .
The licensing Schemes are loaded with disaster for Private Landlords.
They come way a load of their own fabricated terms & conditions each one carries a Massine Penalty relatively. They can give you a 5 year license or 2 year or none.
They can revoke it at any time on a whim at their own discretion despite the huge costs of purchasing the property, your labor, sacrifices, efforts and financial risks. The huge costs of compliance and application fee yet you haven’t a leg to stand on and no rights whatsoever, they can also given themselves the right to invent more regulations anytime they like that’s not any part of t act’.
I suppose you knew all this just add the Renters Reform Bill what a stitch up, then have the cheek to talk about homelessness.
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