A row has broken out following newspaper revelations that Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham is in fact a landlord.
The Sun and the Daily Mail have both reported that an ex-council flat in Kennington, south London, is let out by the Manchester Mayor, who is Labour’s candidate in next month’s Makerfield by-election.
The Sun claims the property is now valued at around £480,000 – twice the sum paid for it by Burnham in 2005.
Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the Conservative Party, is quoted in the press as saying: “The self-styled King of the North, it turns out, has kept a rather comfortable foothold south of the river.
“Bought thanks to expenses, doubled in value, rented out for profit – despite cries of unfairness against the landlord class he is a part of.
“There is a certain whiff of hypocrisy.”
Burnham in his current role as Mayor has pursued an agenda that some have interpreted as hostile to other landlords.
His various initiatives include:
- A Good Landlord Charter to “drive up standards” in rented accommodation;
- Using a special fund of £1.5m he employed 10 enforcement staff to tackle bad private rental housing and take action against landlords not maintaining their properties;
- In 2023 he wrote to then Housing Secretary Michael Gove demanding the powers to impose rent controls on the private sector;
- His letter included this: “Landlords with the encouragement of letting agents, are using this [cost of loving] crisis as an opportunity to introduce rent hikes … Some landlords will be struggling with increased mortgage costs, but many will not.”
- In June 2023, over a year before Labour’s election victory, Burnham advocated measures which went on to become staples of the Renters Rule huts Act. These included:
- an independent inspection regime of rented properties;
- a ‘Property Improvement Plan’ for every rented home, giving landlords a tailored blueprint for improvement;
- giving councils powers “to acquire properties from landlords who are unable or unwilling to meet standards”;
- a universal, mandatory Property Portal or register of landlords.
- In May 2024 he called for the end of right to buy on new build homes;
- In late 2024 he tells the NRLA annual conference that he doesn’t want landlords to exit the private sector;
- He backs a visitor levy (a new tax) imposed nightly on visitors and to be collected by Airbnb hosts and hotels;
- This year he urged landlords to access Warm Homes grants to improve energy efficiency;
In recent weeks he was consulted by the Labour Growth Group and the Good Growth Foundation on plans to increase Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to put it on an equal footing with income tax.
