Good Landlord Charter
The text of the Good Landlord Charter was agreed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on 12th July 2024.
We are now seeking expressions of interest from landlords and letting agents to participate in the Good Landlord Charter.
Find out more information and register your interest.
The Good Landlord Charter is a new scheme to make renting in our city region better.
It will be a voluntary scheme for landlords who want to commit to higher standards than they are currently required to by law. It will be the first such scheme in the country open to all landlords, no matter whether they are private or social landlords, big or small.
Greater Manchester’s biggest social landlords, represented by Greater Manchester Housing Providers, partnered GMCA in developing the charter, and some big landlords have already committed their involvement. This will bring potentially tens of thousands of tenants under the additional protection of the charter.
Now that the Good Landlord Charter has been agreed, GMCA will be going through a process to select a partner to run the independent Implementation Unit that will implement and operate the charter. This page will be updated once an Implementation Unit is in place.
Member criteria
Members of the charter will need to show they meet 21 member criteria, which are specific commitments to going beyond the minimum required by law.
The member criteria are designed to help deliver on the key characteristics of good renting, and include the following examples:
- Affordable – e.g. properties meet EPC C as a minimum
- Inclusive – e.g. make or facilitate reasonable adaptations to properties, where needed
- Private and secure – e.g. tenants able to make reasonable changes to their home
- Responsive – e.g. published, timely target response times
- Safe and decent – e.g. any work/repairs done by a qualified or competent tradesperson
- Supportive – e.g. a commitment to refer tenants at risk of homelessness to council
- Well managed – e.g. landlord must be able to demonstrate accreditation or training
Development
The proposal for the Good Landlord Charter was developed throughout 2023, and was publicly consulted on at the beginning of 2024. The development process was overseen by coordinating group of stakeholders and industry experts who provided feedback and advice on the developing proposal.
For more information on the development process and the reasons why we are developing a Good Landlord Charter, please see the Background to the Good Landlord Charter supporting document, below.
GMCA is grateful to the organisations and individuals who took part in the coordinating group, including The Bond Board, The British Property Federation, Bury Council, DASH, Fair Housing Futures, Generation Rent, Grainger PLC, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter implementation unit, Greater Manchester Housing Providers, Greater Manchester Student Assembly, Greater Manchester Tenants’ Union, Manchester City Council, Manchester Student Homes, National Residential Landlords Association, Safeagents, Shelter, University of Manchester and Wigan Council.
Supporting documents
Background documents for the Good Landlord Charter can be accessed below:
Good Landlord Charter GMCA report (PDF, 392 KB, opens in new tab)
Good Landlord Charter Public Consultation Document (PDF, 326 KB, opens in new tab)
Good Landlord Charter Public Consultation Report (PDF, 1229 KB, opens in new tab)
Background to the Good Landlord Charter (PDF, 249 KB, opens in new tab)
Good Landlord Charter Equalities Impact Assessment (PDF 342 KB, opens in new tab)
GM Housing Providers Tenant Satisfaction Measures briefing (PDF, 138 KB, opens in new tab)
Contact
If you have any questions about the Good Landlord Charter, please email goodlandlordcharter@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.