The Right to Manage - Social Housing

What is the Right to Manage?

Under the terms of the Housing Act 1994 the Right to Manage currently enables local authority tenants and leaseholders to take over certain management responsibilities from their landlord, by forming a Tenant Management Organisation (TMO).  A TMO is an independent resident led organisation. The Council / freeholder remain the landlord / owner of the Properties.  No consent is required from the Landlord to form a TMO.

Management responsibilities can include:

• Repairs, redecorations and maintenance of the structure of the building and the common parts

• Services such as lighting, cleaning, gardening etc. where appropriate

• Collection of rent, service charges etc

• Complying with statutory requirements relating to the management

• Dealing with complaints from other tenants and anti-social behaviour management

• The day-to-day running & management of the block

Housing association tenants are currently excluded from the Right to Manage but can form a TMO on a voluntary basis with the agreement of their landlord. 

 What has the Government announced so far?

Following completion of an initial review, the government is considering extending the Right to Manage to social housing tenants. Later this year there will be a consultation with residents and social housing providers on the details of any proposed changes.  

In addition, the Government have advised they want social landlords to do more to support tenants to take up Right to Manage, in line with existing regulatory requirements.

What could this mean for social housing providers?

The proposed reforms signal a shift towards greater tenant involvement in decision making, in line with the Governments ambition for residents to have more control over their homes and the estates where they live.

However, the expansion of the Right to Manage would also increase legal, governance and regulatory complexity for providers. Although day to day management functions could be delegated to the TMO, the provider would remain the landlord and retain many statutory and regulatory responsibilities.  For example compliance with building safety requirements, health and safety obligations and repairs and maintenance duties would all need to be carefully managed with clear rand robust management agreements and effective oversight to manage legal risk.

Despite the Right to Manage being available since 1994 there has been relatively low uptake with only 1 new statutory TMO in the last 10 years.  Therefore, it remains to be seen if the Right to Manage was extended to social housing tenants, whether there would be any greater uptake.