What is the Good Landlord Charter?

The Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter is a new initiative to raise renting standards across the private and social housing sector by supporting landlords to aim for higher standards than the minimum requirement by law.

The Charter features 21 criteria that promote responsible and ethical management of rental properties, strengthen tenant protections, and support landlords to improve the overall quality of rented housing and the renting experience.

Membership with the Charter is completely voluntary, and there is no membership fee to join. The Charter serves to support tenants’ rights and raise the standard of practice for landlords. Many landlords across Greater Manchester may already meet the criteria and membership with the Charter will formally recognise this. The Charter will

support landlords who want to become Members but do not yet meet the criteria.

The need for the Good Landlord Charter

In response to the ongoing homelessness crisis, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham committed to improving standards in the private and social housing sectors. The Good Landlord Charter addresses issues of housing quality, accessibility, affordability, management and inequalities for tenants.

The concept of the Good Landlord Charter was first introduced in 2021 and developed throughout 2022 and 2023. It was open to public consultation at the beginning of 2024. GMCA led the development process with advice and feedback from a coordinating group of stakeholders and industry experts.

Its central features were developed with a coordinating group that met throughout 2023, including social and private tenants, landlords, trade bodies, existing accreditation schemes and industry experts. GMCA officers worked with the group to develop a proposal for the charter for public consultation, with the consultation taking place at the beginning of 2024.

The Implementation Unit was appointed in November 2024. The Unit operates independently from the GMCA and any Greater Manchester local authority. The Implementation Unit is a new and respected voice working to improve renting in Greater Manchester.

The cost-of-living crisis has put extreme pressure on housing costs at a time when Greater Manchester is seeing a record-high number of renters. Many tenants have said that paying rent is a constant struggle and affordability when renting is only getting worse.

For landlords, the crisis has put pressure on the financial burden of maintaining properties. Results of the English Housing Survey revealed that over a quarter of privately rented homes fell below the Decent Homes Standard across Greater Manchester in 2019. Additionally, three-quarters of renters surveyed have reported a fault with their homes in the last year, and a quarter of private tenants are dissatisfied with the management of their homes.

Many tenants face additional adversity. Research has found that all ethnic groups except white households are disproportionately higher in the renting population. People who are disabled or permanently sick face difficulties with affordability and adequate property management. Members of the LGBTQ+ community reported worse experiences when searching for housing, and people who receive housing benefits report high rates of discrimination.

What’s been done so far

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) have introduced initiatives to address housing standards. Over the last 4 years, GMCA has:

Invested in improving social homes through the Social Housing Quality Fund
Improved enforcement efforts for the private rented sector by increasing the number of qualified enforcement officers and the cap on potential civil penalties and fines
Committed to delivering 30,000 truly affordable net-zero homes by 2038
Developed initiatives to improve Private Rented Sector (PRS) practices, such as the GM PRS Partnership and the Let US Ethical Lettings Agency

What makes a Good Landlord?

The Good Landlord Charter aims to further protect the rights of renters while providing relevant support for landlords to meet the membership criteria. These criteria were decided after considerable research and consultation. GMCA worked with stakeholders, including landlords, tenants, and industry experts.

In April 2023, Greater Manchester Housing Providers undertook a voluntary programme to test the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). This programme helped identify the issues tenants face in Greater Manchester.

The GMCA consulted with landlords, tenants and other stakeholders in 2024 to evaluate and shape the proposed Good Landlord Charter. The consultation was open to anyone in Greater Manchester to understand the priorities for both tenants and landlords.

The Good Landlord Charter membership criteria

The Good Landlord Charter follows a model similar to the Good Employment Charter, which has worked with more than a thousand employers across Greater Manchester to help them go above and beyond the minimum requirements for their employees. Using that model and the results of the research, 21 membership criteria across 7 categories were decided.

Affordability

A landlord must demonstrate that they meet all the affordability criteria by:

Providing a clear and fair rent review or setting process
Giving a fair amount of time to tenants who struggle to pay their rent
Ensuring properties meet EPC C as a minimum
Not using mandatory rent arrears ground (social landlord only)

Inclusive

The service provided by landlords should be inclusive, promising to:

Make reasonable adaptations to properties where needed by the tenant and where applicable join an adaptations register
Demonstrate commitment to accepting tenants from any background

Private and secure

Landlords must showcase that the tenancy is private and secure by:

Allowing Tenants to make reasonable changes to their homes
Access to the home should be in agreement with the Tenant’s wishes except in case of an emergency.

Responsive

For a landlord to show they are responsive, they must:

Publish their responses in a timely manner
Have a clear and concise complaints policy in place for Tenants

Safe and decent

The homes provided by landlords should be safe and decent; landlords can ensure this happens by:

Providing an effective approach to property inspection
Ensuring that any person involved with the management of the home, including themselves to the best of their knowledge, are “fit and proper persons”
Any and all work/repairs done to the home are completed by a qualified or competent person
Adopt standards on what should happen at the start of a tenancy
Space standards and amenities

Supportive

The service provided by landlords should be supportive. They can ensure they are doing so by:

Having a ‘commitment to refer’ tenants at risk of homelessness to the council
Having transparent, easy-to-understand contracts
Adopt advertising and viewing standards
Providing/signposting tenants to useful information

Well managed

Landlords must showcase and prove their management efficiency by:

Demonstrating accreditation or training or use an accredited managing agent
Having a clear start and end-of-tenancy process

Who are we?

In 2024 the Implementation Unit was commissioned to implement the Charter across Greater Manchester. The Implementation Unit reports to a governing board that act as a champion for Good Landlords. The board is chaired by the GMCA.

Your support

The Good Landlord Charter aims to recognise landlords who already meet the 21 criteria and provide excellent standards for their tenants. The Charter offers guidance and support for landlords who do not meet the 21 criteria but want to.

To be a Supporter you must demonstrate legal compliance with current regulations and commit to working with the Implementation Unit to meet all of the Good Landlord Charter's Criteria.

Official recognition as a Good Landlord Charter Member aims to attract good tenants for landlords. Over 70% of tenants said that some level of accreditation would influence their renting decisions. Research indicates tenants are more likely to rent long-term with a landlord who demonstrates the Membership criteria, reducing tenancy turnover.

Become a Supporter

The Good Landlord Charter invites landlords to register their support. Landlords who register before our launch event on 23 May 2025 will be featured at the launch and on our website as initial Supporting Landlords.

Tenants can support the Charter by contacting the Good Landlord Charter and their landlords.