Greater Manchester Tenants Union

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Greater Manchester Tenants Union

GM based campaigning union, fighting to level the playing field for tenants in the private and social rented sector. Get in touch: [email protected]

19/06/2026

Today GMTU, the Greater Manchester Law Centre, five Trade Unions and seven community groups across Greater Manchester wrote to Andy Burnham.

We have been grateful in the past for his support for our work. But he cannot stand on his record - now he will be judged on what actions he takes in Parliament.
We are calling him to take action to protect renters from rising cost of living pressures by pushing for a rent freeze and the following additional measures:

1. Rent freeze between tenancies as well as within tenancies: to avoid the loophole that existed during the rent freeze in Scotland, any rent freeze should apply between tenancies as well as within tenancies.

2. A long term plan to tackle the housing affordability crisis. This should include a mixture of long-term rent controls, increased investment in accessible council housing and converting private rented homes into council housing.

3. Social housing tenancies: the government should consider applying any rent freeze to social housing tenancies or, at the very least, freeze increases of service charges, which often increase far above inflation and wages.

We will continue to push for these measures that are so desperately needed by our members and tenants across the country.

17/06/2026

Amazingly today - nearly half way through the year - is Manchester’s “Cost of Rent Day”.

This is the day that the average renter in Manchester stops working for their landlord and starts working for themselves. Almost half their income is swallowed up in rent.

Across the spring we have been highlighting this date for the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. Manchester has come last. But, astonishingly, Manchester also comes after London too, which saw its cost of rent day fall on June 2nd.

The ratio of wages to rents is worse here in Manchester than in the notoriously unaffordable capital. People here have more of their income swallowed up by rent, because wages are lower. This is one of the most unaffordable places to live in the country if you are earning a local wage.

It didn’t have to be this way. Rents have risen 40% in Manchester over the last 3 years, driven by an expansion in supply at the top end of the rental market that has driven prices up for everyone else. Manchester City Council has failed to build social housing and even often demolished what social housing we had.

It’s clear this can’t go on. We need rent controls and a programme of mass council house building, as well as aggressive measures to remunicipalise housing stock to bring the rents down.

But this change won’t come about unless we fight for it. That’s why for seven years GMTU has been at the forefront of the fight for decent housing in Manchester, and a crucial pillar of the national movement for tenant rights and housing affordability.

We work, week in week out, across diverse districts of the city, from the north to the south, supporting our members, fighting campaigns and building a durable infrastructure for working class popular power.

Isn’t it about time you joined the fight?

Head to tenantsunion.org.uk/support to sign up as a regular donor or member, join the fight for housing justice, and be part of the project of building mass popular power in our city.

10/06/2026

Next week! As part of Middleton Fringe Festival, alongside .house.midd

We are thrilled to be hosting activist and writer to speak on the themes of his latest book “Radical Abundance”.

Free entry. 6.30pm at the Bojangles theatre. No need to book a ticket, just turn up!

About the book:

Capitalism has created a world of bu****it abundance, where we have too much of what we don’t need and too little of what we do. Through this system’s relentless pursuit of profits, we have been put on a collision course with social and ecological limits that can no longer be ignored. We need an alternative. We need radical abundance, a world of human and non-human flourishing made possible by democratic control over the assets, resources and services we rely on to live. But radical abundance can’t just be voted into existence through parliamentary means, it must be made by taking control of our collective reproduction in the here and now.

About Keir:

Keir Milburn is a writer, researcher and activist, He is co-Director of the research action organisation Abundance, author of Generation Left (2019 Polity) and co-author of Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future (2025 Pluto). He also co-hosts the podcast on Novara Media.

01/06/2026

Photos from our fantastic All Member Meeting that took place this Saturday.

Members from across our union came together to reflect on the work we have done together over the past four months and plan for the future. We discussed GMTU’s strategy for the next few years, planned the launch of our campaign to get justice for our members in temporary accommodation and enjoyed some great food from This and That.

We have big plans over the next few months including the roll out of our Resist Rent Rises campaign. More on that soon. Want to get involved? Join the Union today and come to your next branch meeting!

28/05/2026

Live in Trafford? TODAY is your Cost of Rent Day*. This means that every penny you’ve earned this year, up until today, has gone straight from your bank account directly to your landlord.

Tomorrow, 29th May, will be the first day you’re actually earning for all the other things you want and need in your day-to-day, like your bills, your food and yourself.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With between-tenancy rent controls and increased social housing stock we could afford to live in safe, secure homes for as long as we want or need.

Sick of being ripped off? Get organised and join your local tenants union today.

It takes all of us to build power in our city. Join us:
tenantsunion.org.uk/support 🐝🏡💛

*Cost of Rent Day is the day that, on average, renters in that borough earn enough before tax to cover their annual rent bill. Data sourced from Adam Smith Institute, based on data from 2025.

22/05/2026

Off the back of our successful Resist Rent Rises launch in Levenshulme on Wednesday, which saw over 40 people show up to discuss the new Renters Rights Act, we had another fantastic day yesterday at GMTU, our members were busy across the city.

Our .tenantsunion branch held a meeting with Southway tenants on the Merseybank Estate, who are collectivising their issues with their landlord and setting up a neighbourhood Tenants group.

Our Harpuhey branch held a strategy day where they planned out their next big campaign around Temporary Accommodation - watch this space for more to come on this!

Our Hulme branch held a stall and got stuck in at Pollinate at the Nia Centre, chatting to folks about their housing utopias.

It doesn’t stop there! Tonight our new City Centre and Salford Branch will be hosting a gig with alongside and international artist Vasily Ratmansky who has just touched down from Berlin to be with us.

If you’re free, why not come down, and start the bank holiday by Keeping the City Centre Weird! From 7pm at the Kings Arms, Salford.

19/05/2026

Fantastic discussions this weekend with local residents in Hulme at our stall at Ecofest. Lots of people spoke to us about the cost of living, concerns about a lack of social housing in the neighbourhood and fears of gentrification. They were receptive to our ideas around rent control and council house building, and interested in our upcoming campaign Resist Rent Rises - using the new tribunal powers of the Renters Rights Act to slow down private sector rent rises.

We will be launching our campaign Resist Rent Rises tomorrow at in Levenshulme and are thrilled to be joined by Nick Bano, author of “Against Landlords”. Link and info in bio.

Then on Friday we are teaming up with to start the bank holiday right with a gig at with . The fight for liveable cities and grassroots culture are connected. Your landlord hates you and hates the art you like. Let’s keep the city centre weird!

We are currently asking for 150 people to back our work. Why not join GMTU today? Hope to catch you at one of these events.

14/05/2026

Today members of Harpurhey Tenants Union were in their local ASDA chatting to the shoppers. People shared their stories with us of bad landlords and negligent housing associations, and we invited them to become members of our union and fight back 💛

Stalls, door-knocking and phone-banking is the bread and butter of union work. It shows our communities that we are here and they are not alone. It also teaches us how to be better stewards of our neighbourhoods, how to have better conversations, and find common ground with people we don’t always agree with 🥀

DM us to find out how you can get involved in your next local branch’s outreach event! ☀️

11/05/2026

RESIST RENT RISES WITH GMTU

GMTU are launching a campaign on 20th May in Levenshulme. We’re working with GM Law Centre and London Renters Union, as well as other tenants unions across the country, to help tenants challenge increasing rents and take back power for ourselves.

Come along to our first ‘Train the Trainer’ workshop where we will be sharing knowledge and resources to help train up organisers on challenging rent rises in our communities.

Please register via the ticketsource link in our bio, this session will be online so we will email you a zoom link the day before - keep an eye out on your spam so it doesn’t get lost!

See you then! ✨🏡

Address

667-669 Stockport Road, Levenshulme
Manchester
M124QE

Website

http://www.tenantsunion.org.uk/

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