The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, warned that he will not let bad landlords “off the hook”, ahead of launching a consultation on the combined authority’s Good Landlord Charter this morning.

In an interview earlier today, Burnham told Radio 4 Today that approximately £500m per year is paid to landlords through housing benefits in the Greater Manchester private rented sector.

He said that a quarter of private rented homes in Greater Manchester are not maintained to the decent homes standard. He added, “Can anybody defend that?”.

Burnham said: “Many landlords trying to do the right thing, but there are some who are not and I’m not going to let them off the hook.”