Tenants Right to Manage

Back in April 2011 the then Conservative  housing minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) introduced a new tenant housing management scheme called the Tenant Cash Back Scheme. This is part of the broader Community Cashback scheme. Click  HERE to read what the housing minister had to say about the scheme (April 2011).

The scheme is about tenants taking on small scale housing repairs and maintenance services from their landlord.

In July 2013 we hear that the first tenant cash back scheme has been started in Camden by the Russell Chambers Residents Association HERE
" Camden Council has agreed to pay the group what it would normally cost to run this part of the service and has signed a Cashback Agreement with the group to formalise the delivery of the service in the longer term."

Council tenants legal Right to Manage stems from section 27 of the Housing Act 1985 HERE.  

The Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations 1994 HERE prescribed how tenants where to legally go about taking on housing management functions. 

The regulations where amended in 2008 HERE and 2012 HERE

[updated 2 Sept 2021] I missed the Statutory Guidance for the 2012 Right To Manage regulations of  Dec 2013 found on the Governments website HERE  

In June 2011 the Camden Association of Street Properties (CASP)  and the council colluder's entered into an housing management agreement to provide, not an existing service, but a new service for targeted tenants who live in council street properties. Click HERE for casp write up on the gardening project.

Why no above board and open management agreement with CASP or indeed the DMC's who CASP get money from to carry out the gardening maintenance service? Some dmc members also run community halls based on/near the estate they live in. They are for use of all the community but are paid for from the housing revenue account.
 
According to Camden councils website HERE there are 6 TMO groups in Camden

• Abbey Road housing co-op
• Agar Grove Tenant Management co-op limited
• Chalk Farm housing group
• Carol street housing co-op
• Godwin and Crowndale housing co-op
• St Pancras Court housing co-op

who have taken on housing management functions - the right way - but the dmc's and casp are let away with doing things in an underhanded and not very transparent way. 

A few years back  I asked Camden council via the FoI Act what legal powers/legislation they where using to fund the 5 dmc's - or words to that effect and I was informed that it was the wel-being powers within Local Government Act 2000 HERE. 

I also asked:
" Dear Camden Borough Council,
Please provide me with the following information:
 
1. A copy of the initial and subsequently updated agreement/s the
council entered into with the five district management committee's
(dmc's) - Holborn, Camden Town, Kentish Town, Gospel Oak and
Hampstead - that enables dmc members to allocate large sums of
public funding to council tenant groups in Camden.
 
2. The legal status of the 5 dmc's " 

To which I was sent information I didn't ask for. 

After another try I was informed
"with hindsight, the HASC might have advised you that there are quarterly reports that touch up the monitoring and accounting aspects of the DMC's". 


I have since found out that the accounting aspects in the dmcs agreement amounts to dmc members not having to produce annual accounts for even their own members let alone other tenants to see, and not having to give the council the accounts either.

Another FoI request informs
"The DMC's have access to funds but they are not entitled to spend them directly. Instead the DMC's make recommendations on how the money that has been allocated to them should be spent. The decision making in terms of spending the money is then taken by Council Officers"


Update 25 Feb 2016 
In regards to the above quote, dmc members do get sent cheques to spend on some works/goods/services as stated in some officers reports (not at hand right now). 

Tenants don't have to belong to a TRA to access works etc and can ask the housing ward /officer to make a bid on their behalf [for communal works]. Some housing officers will mislead though and claim otherwise. 

23 Sept 2022

The new Director of Housing report to the Housing Scrutiny committee[5 Sept 2022 HERE] agenda item 11  Resident engagement and consultation in housing services pdf 945 KB

in regards to Tenants Right to Manage, the sub title Involvement and empowerment

3.30 "In terms of empowerment, in accordance with regulation the Council have supported tenants to exercise their Right to Manage or otherwise exercise housing management functions. For example, there are five Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). These are resident Committees who employ their own staff and deliver some landlord services under a management agreement with Council supervision and support."  

the bottom of the report:

" 7 FINANCE COMMENTS OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CORPORATE SERVICES 

        7.1 The Executive Director, Corporate Services has been consulted and has no further comment to add. 

8 LEGAL COMMENTS OF THE BOROUGH SOLICITOR 

   8.1 The Borough Solicitor has been consulted and has no further comment to add. 

REPORT ENDS" 

The report omits the name of the Regulation the council relies upon for them to support tenants to legally " exercise their Right to Manage or otherwise exercise housing management functions" 

There is other legislation -  specifically aimed at Leaseholders such as the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 HERE to take on management functions of theirs homes. 

In regards to this post I mean tenants who rent, who seem to be the majority of tenants on the DMC's/ CASP. 

9 March 2024

Near the start of this posting I mentioned  that "Council tenants legal Right to Manage stems from section 27 of the Housing Act 1985 HERE.  "  and below

" [F227Management agreements.

1) A local housing authority may agree that another person shall exercise in relation to—

(a)such of the authority’s houses as are specified in the agreement,            and

(b)any other land so specified which is held for a related purpose, such of the authority’s management functions as are so specified.

(2)In this Act—

(a)“ management agreement ” means an agreement under subsection  

(1) or a sub-agreement, and

(b)“ manager ”, in relation to a management agreement, means a person by whom management functions are exercisable under the agreement.

(3) A management agreement shall set out the terms on which the authority’s functions are exercisable by a manager.

(4) An agreement under subsection (1) shall contain such provisions as may be prescribed by regulations made by the [F3appropriate Minister].

(5) A management agreement may—

(a) include provision authorising a manager, with the consent of the authority, to agree that another person shall exercise any management function exercisable by the manager under the agreement;

(b)where a body or association is a manager, provide that the management functions of the body or association under the agreement may be performed by a committee, sub-committee, officer or employee of the body or association.

DMC's Review - History of the DMC's

An officers report to the councils Housing and Adult Social Care in regards to the review the committee is carrying out into the 5 Committee District Management Committee's (DMC's) HERE


History of the DMC's

Back in the days prior to part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 HERE coming into force in July 2001, the dmc's where sub-committee's of the councils then Housing committee. 

The housing committee and its sub-committees had council tenants as members - legislation allows them to do this.

In 1998, a DMC document HERE reveals that cllrs on the Housing committee bestowed upon some council tenants rights they weren't legally entitled to: voting rights on the councils housing committees (the dmc's).

" RESOLVED 

THAT the Tenants' Associations listed in Appendix A be  formally registered with the Council and their nominated representatives be co-opted onto the DMC, with voting rights for the Municipal Year 1998/99"   HERE

Legislation

The Local Government Act 1972, states under section 101 HERE   in regards to local governments discharge of their functions:

Subject to any express provision contained in this Act or any Act passed after this Act, a local authority may arrange for the discharge of any of their functions—
 
(a) by a committee, a sub-committee or an officer of the authority; or
(b) by any other local authority.

In relation to committees section 102 says:

(1) (a)a local authority may appoint a committee of the authority; or
(b)two or more local authorities may appoint a joint committee of those authorities; or
(c)any such committee may appoint one or more sub-committees

 (3)A committee appointed under subsection (1) [F25or (1A)] above, other than a committee for regulating and controlling the finance of the local authority or of their area, may, subject to section 104 below, include persons who are not members of the appointing authority or authorities or, in the case of a sub-committee, the authority or authorities of whom they are a sub-committee, F26. .

Section 13 HERE of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989  adds further to the above:

13 Voting rights of members of certain committees: England and Wales.
(1)Subject to the following provisions of this section, a person who—
(a)is a member of a committee appointed under a power to which this section applies by a relevant authority and is not a member of that authority;
(c)is a member of a sub-committee appointed under such a power by such a committee as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above and is not a member of the relevant authority, or one of the relevant authorities, which appointed that committee,
shall for all purposes be treated as a non-voting member of that committee (my emphasis),  joint committee or, as the case may be, sub-committee.

Section 13 above came into force more or less around August 1990 HERE

By June of 1999 all 5 cllr lead dmc's (the 5 dmc's were aligned with the councils 5 district housing offices) had council tenant reps as chairs or vice chairs.

Each dmc was also given £100,000 pa to allocate on  council housing capital works. This was on top of the existing but smaller revenue budgets (around £35,000 each pa ) dmc's had been allocating.

Council meeting of 17 May 2000 
agenda item  6. STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS GOVERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEES AND THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS TO COMMITTEES 

 The Mayor moved and Councillor Dermot Greene seconded, that the report be received and adopted.
RESOLVED
- THAT the standing committees of the Council be constituted as set out below (my emphasis)

(e) HOUSING COMMITTEE (16) 
Majority Party (11) 
Brian Weekes, Dave Horan, John Rolfe, Charlie Hedges, Heather Johnson, Roger Robinson, Sybil Shine, Anne Swain, Jim Turner Maggie Cosin and Penny Abraham.

Opposition
(C)(3)Peter Horne, Andrew Mennear Piers Wauchope
(LD) (2) Jane Schopflin, Sidney Malin 
Plus named substitute 
(C)(1) Stephen Hocking 
(LD) (2) Flick Rea, Heather Thompson  

Plus 10 non voting members (my emphasis), one from each DMC, one from the Camden Federation of Tenants Associations, one from the Camden Federation of Private Tenants and one from the Homelessness Liaison Group, one from Leaseholders forum and one from TMO Liaison Group

Note it says "Plus 10 non voting members "

Forward a couple of weeks from the above full Council meeting to the Gospel Oak DMC  30 May 2000 HERE 

 1.REGISTRATION OF TENANTS ASSOCIATION AND CO-OPTION OF TENANT REPRESENTATIVES 
RESOLVED THAT all the Tenants Associations listed in Appendix A be formally registered with the Council and their nominated representatives be co-opted onto the DMC with voting rights (my emphasis) for the municipal year 2000/2001. 

Within weeks of the full Council meeting and the agreed 10 tenant reps appointed onto the councils then Housing Committee with no voting rights, had  transformed into the continuation of 5 Housing Committee sub-committees that had at least ten voting tenant reps each.

It was around this time that council tenant reps from the Camden Association of Street Properties (CASP) started attending dmc meetings.

By 2004 a few estate based council tenants reps (dmc and cftra members) had taken over CASP.

The council had given them housing transfers to street properties in order to do so.

A few years earlier, in January 2001, council tenant members of the dmc's who where also members of the Camden Federation of Tenants and Residents Association (CFTRA) managed to get the following motion agreed by 4 of the 5 dmc's:

“This District Management Committee agrees that the budget of £456,000 be withdrawn from the Community Involvement Team from April 1st 2001 and that tenants decide where and how the money will be used" 

The CFTRA then set themselves up as a private company limited by guarantee in the same name, and took on the tenant participation service from the councils in house team - to provide services to other council tenants on behalf of the council.

From what I can make of things, the cftra taking on the TP service has been a disaster from start to finish resulting in the current situation where the cftra has lost all its funding and support from the council.

The change of governance system brought in by the Local Government Act 2000 should have meant that the dmc's where shut down but cllrs allowed the dmc's to continue but as council tenant groups funded and serviced by the council.

The dmc's also continued to exercise council functions of allocating large sums of money to themselves. This progressed to dmc members actually being given direct access to council money to buy goods and services/works on behalf of the council - without an apparent formal legal management agreement/contract being in place. No annual accounts of spending required by the councils. No receipts required.

Councils officers agree with the tenant reps how much the cost of the works etc will be and the tenant rep is sent a cheque (or given a government procurement card) to transfer public money into the tra's bank account.

The dmc's don't produce annual accounts of where the money they have allocated to themselves has been spent. The council doesn't require the dmc's to account for the spending.

This set up continues to this day.