One year post-launch

Creating a Neighbourhood

From the outset, collaboration has been central to our approach. When Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, Paul Dennet, launched the Charter in June 2025, he spoke of the role everyone plays in raising rental standards.

Our monthly events programme began immediately after launch, creating regular opportunities for landlords, agents, local authorities and partners to know more about our work and how they can be involved. These sessions have provided space for learning, discussion and practical support, reinforcing that raising standards is a shared responsibility.

To recognise the importance of collaboration, we introduced Friends and Champions of the Charter to help promote its values, build awareness across the sector, and encourage more landlords and organisations to get involved in raising standards.

Moving to Membership

We’ve been working closely with our Supporters to evidence or implement new processes against our criteria.

The launch of the PRS Assessment Framework provided clarity on what landlords need to demonstrate to achieve Membership, setting out transparent and consistent expectations for landlords and renters. This was developed with landlords, renters, and partners. We’ve adopted the same approach for the social, student, and supported housing sectors.

This was supported by a programme of events and workshops, helping landlords build the knowledge and confidence to meet the Charter’s standards. By creating space for peer learning in our Quality Conversations and bringing in expert partners and sector voices through our Networking series. This has created a practical and supportive pathway for improvement.

What good looks like

From the outset, the role of the Charter is to give landlords recognition for doing excellent work.

Through the Supporter Spotlight series, we have highlighted landlords who are already demonstrating excellent practice, celebrating their achievements and sharing real examples of what “good” looks like in action. This has helped to recognise positive behaviour across the sector, while encouraging others to follow.

We have taken these success stories on the road. Exhibiting and speaking at major industry events, including national landlord forums and conferences, helping to shape wider conversations about rental standards. The Charter has also engaged directly with policymakers, including hosting a parliamentary briefing at Westminster to highlight the importance of raising standards and supporting landlords nationally.

Aligning the Charter with place-based initiatives

In March 2026, the previous Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, announced our partnership with GMCA’s Warm Homes: Local Grants. Charter Supporters became exclusively eligible for grant funding to improve energy efficiency, including upgrades such as insulation and low‑carbon heating. This initiative supports the wider goal of delivering warmer, more sustainable homes, while reducing costs for tenants and contributing to net zero ambitions.

The Good Landlord Charter is connected to the Greater Manchester Good Growth Fund through Good Growth Contracts. The Good Growth Fund is an investment from GMCA to improve Greater Manchester by providing opportunities for local communities and businesses. The Good Growth Contracts are offered to recipients of the fund and require recipients to commit to social and environmental objectives. This includes a commitment from landlords to register with the Good Landlord Charter.

Responding to a changing landscape

The first year of the Charter has coincided with significant change across the sector with the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act.

In response, the Charter has supported landlords and partners to understand emerging requirements. This has helped reinforce principles around fairness, transparency and tenant protections at a time of reform. We have developed our Criteria to purposely capture elements of the RRA, ensuring landlords are ahead of the curve and better prepared for the upcoming changes. We have sat on MHCLG’s working group for the incoming PRS database.

Collaboration in practise

Work progressed on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training, designed to support landlords in providing more inclusive and accessible housing. The training is being prepared for rollout and will help ensure the Charter continues to embed fairness and inclusivity at the heart of renting practices.

During GMCA’s Live Well Festival, we collaborated with the GM Equality Panel and the LGBT Foundation. From this collaboration, we’ve created a toolkit for landlords to practice inclusive services in the private rented sector.

What's next?

As we look to our next 12 months in operation, we're focusing on the support available to landlords to become Members. In July, we're launching our EDI training with a workshop exclusively for Supporters. The training has been developed specifically for landlords. Clare Vibert will be delivering in-person workshops to support landlords in offering inclusive services.

We'll also be welcoming the first Members of the Good Landlord Charter. Members are landlords who have completed the Supporter stage by meeting all the Membership criteria. Members are officially recognised by the Charter as Good Landlords who continue to raise rental standards in Greater Manchester.

Stay updated with the Charter to learn which landlords in the city-region will be the first Members to raise rental standards for their tenants.