On 16 June, Communities Secretary Steve Reed announced that the Government plans to reform the Right to Manage, which currently gives council tenants and leaseholders the right to take over certain management functions from their landlord council.  He said:

“We have concluded our review of the Right to Manage and will be taking forward a series of reforms to the regulatory and policy framework to make it as easy as possible for more social housing residents to come together to take control of their own homes and estates and to make housing managers directly accountable to the people who live there. Currently, the majority of social housing residents live in homes run by housing associations and are excluded from the Right to Manage. We will explore whether there is a case for extending the statutory right to these tenants and will consult with residents and social housing providers on the detail ahead of any change. We will make sure there is better support and oversight built into the Right to Manage system, including stronger enforcement action in the event of serious mismanagement where residents’ safety is put at risk. We want social landlords to do more to support tenants to take up Right to Manage, in line with existing regulatory requirements.”

The Right to Manage has been operative since 1994, and TMOs have been established in many councils across the country.  However, only one new TMO has been set up in the last 10 years.