Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has proposed an amnesty for ‘rogue landlords’ in an attempt to drive them out of the private rented sector.

In a speech at a Residential Landlord Association (RLA) conference yesterday, Mr Burnham said he would be willing to purchase the properties of landlords who did not want to bring them up to a decent standard.

He said there were too many ‘bad landlords’ who were creating an ‘epidemic of insecurity’ within the private rented sector.

The mayor was setting out his new Good Landlord Scheme which includes a set of principles for landlords to subscribe to proving they are committed to providing a certain standard of service and accommodation.

‘Safe, decent housing should be a human right as healthcare and education are,’ he said.

‘The fact that you are at the conference today shows that you want to be reputable and do things properly. Truth of the matter is this doesn’t apply to the whole of the private rented sector.’

‘We need to isolate those that are giving the sector a bad name,’ he continued.

‘We will work with you to establish what’s reasonable, what’s fair and what landlords should be expected to provide.’

Mr Burnham said he was not ready to provide all the details of the buy-back scheme.

However, in response to a question about whether it would result in the city rewarding bad practices by offering rogue landlords the market price for their homes, he said, ‘Who said anything about market values?’