Info for Council tenants
Are you a Council tenant?
If you are a council tenant, you have a legal "Right to Manage". This means that you and other tenants in your area can form a TMC (Tenant Management Co-operative) to take on the management of your homes.
Over 200 estates across the country have set up tenant management organisations and TMCs are a uniquely successful method of empowering local people and communities. However, one word of warning - setting up a TMC involves work and commitment from your community!
A TMC does not own the properties, but manages them for the council, and hopefully does a better job! Tenants retain their secure tenancy status. The TMC will negotiate a management agreement with the council which sets out which services the TMC will provide (which could include repairs, grounds maintenance, allocations, rent collection, employment of staff etc.), and how much money the TMC will get for doing them.
TMCs elect a management committee to run the TMC. Dependent on the number of properties involved (the TMC must cover at least 25 properties), the TMC may employ staff to carry work on its behalf.
In order to set up a TMC, you will need to get together with other tenants in your local areas, and make contact with your local council tenant participation department. They will give you a list of agencies who can work with you to set up a TMC. (If that doesn't work, contact us.)
The agency you choose to work with will apply on your behalf for government funding that is available to set up TMCs (called Section 16 funding - funded through the Department of Environment Transport and the Regions). This funding will enable an agency to carry out a structured programme of work with you that will include general support (especially in terms of getting more people involved), training, ballots, surveys etc.
Your local council should be keen to see local tenants setting up TMCs, but this is not always the case! Through the Tenant Participation Compact regime, councils should be informing you of your rights to set up TMCs (amongst many other options). We think it is right that you should consider all the available options, but if you feel that setting up a TMC is right for your estate, then don't be put off!
Is your council considering the long term future of its housing?
All councils are now considering ways in which they can bring in much needed money to do up their homes (the Stock Options Appraisal process).
The key options are:
- the council keeps the homes - only a very few councils are financially in a position to do this.
- the council keeps ownership of the homes, but transfers management to an "Arms Length Management Organisation". If a council does this, and achieves a "two-star" rating from the Audit Commission for the way that it provides its services, then it can apply to the Government for permission to borrow money to do up the homes.
- the council transfers some or all of the homes to a new or existing housing association. Where this happens, the new association is in a position to borrow money privately to improve the homes.
There are a number of pros and cons to these options. Above all, we think that tenants should always be in the driving seat of the whole decision-making process on deciding what option to pursue, and then on how it should be implemented. The ODPM, the Government department that regulates this process also thinks that tenants should playing a leading role, so if you are not happy that your council is involving you, get in touch with them. The ODPM also require that the Council employs an Independent Tenant Advisor, who should be there to advise you (some are more independent than others!).
Tenant Management
Under the first two options, tenants remain "secure tenants" and continue to have the Right to Manage as detailed on the previous page and nothing should prevent you from setting up a management co-op. Its harder with a transfer, but not impossible.
Small Scale Transfer
If you want to see transfer to your own community based organisation, this may be possible, but complex. Get in touch with us for further details.
Community Gateway
The CCH has developed a model for large scale stock transfer that is about developing local community empowerment and making a transfer that is as democratic as it can be. This model is called Community Gateway. If you are interested in this, please get in touch with us.
