So, why form a TMO;

• Council tenants in England and Wales have a statutory Right to Manage their own homes (Housing Association tenants can do so under a voluntary arrangement with their landlord).
• The government has a standard type of agreement which sets out what services the TMO will be responsible for and which ones the landlord will remain responsible for.
• Your landlord must give the TMO an allowance that is equal to the money they would spend on delivering the services the TMO takes on.
• If you are able to provide services to the agreed standard cheaper than your landlord (most TMOs do) the ‘surplus’ funds can be kept by the TMO to invest in local improvements. Click here to see some of the projects undertaken by TMOs.
• TMOs employ their own staff to provide the services they are responsible for. So you can directly employ their own cleaners, caretakers, housing officers and repair staff if they wish.
• You are able to deliver the services in the way you want (as long as they meet the agreed standards).
• You can set higher performance standards than your landlord (but not lower ones!)
• Each TMO has its own, local, office. This means that the staff you employ work within your block or estate and are therefore more likely to notice when there are issues to be addressed.
• No faceless call centres. Residents know the people who work for them.
• You can choose your own contractors. These could be small local businesses rather than the large companies used by your landlord.
• Contractor’s work is usually monitored better a TMO staff are on-site and can see if the work has been done.
• There is generally better communication with residents about local issues and what is being done to address them.
• Where TMO tenant satisfaction is monitored alongside that of homes managed directly by the landlord, TMO residents are more satisfied with their services and with their homes.
• The Council/Housing Association remains your landlord and your conditions of tenancy/lease do not change.
• The choice of tenant management is not a permanent one. Every five years residents have the option to vote to hand back management services to your landlord (very few do!).

Previous, independent, research* has shown that;

• TMOs often manage their housing more effectively than their landlord. Their performance matches the top 25% of local councils in England.
• This better performance by TMOs covers repairs, relets, rent collection, and tenant satisfaction.
• TMOs, being “on the spot” and with local knowledge, tend to act sooner and more effectively when dealing with tenancy management problems.
• TMOs can work well in socially excluded communities.
• Many TMOs are involved in wider community activities and play an important part in neighbourhood regeneration.
• The majority of TMO tenants say the TMO helps to increase community spirit and improve the quality of life.

The NFTMO aims to help and support all kinds of TMOs across the UK.

* Tenants Managing An Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England (2002): Lessons For Localism: Tenant self management (2012)