What is a Housing Association?

Housing Associations are registered with, and regulated by, the Tenant Services Authority. The technical name of social landlords is Registered Social Landlord. Other terms used to describe housing associations include Housing Trusts, Community Gateway Associations, Local Housing Companies, Co-operatives.

What is a ALMO (Arms Length Management Organisation)?

An arms length management organisation (ALMO) is a company set up by a local authority to manage and improve part or all of its housing stock. The company is owned by the Local Authority and operates under the terms of a management agreement between the local authority and the ALMO. High performing ALMOs are entitled to additional funding from Government to bring homes up to a modern, Decent Homes, standard.

What is a TMO (Tenant Management Organisation?

A TMO is a means by which council or housing association tenants and leaseholders can collectively take on responsibility for managing the homes they live in. Those resident members of the TMO create an independent legal body and usually elect a tenant led management committee to run the organisation. The TMO can then enter into a legal management agreement (contract) with the landlord. The TMO is paid annual management and maintenance allowances in order to carry out the management duties that are delegated to them. TMOs can take different forms and sizes. Many are tenant management co-operatives – using co-op rules. Others may take the form of not-for-profit companies. Some TMOs manage just a handful of homes while others manage large estates of two or three thousand properties. The small TMOs may rely mainly on voluntary effort but most employ staff such as housing managers, caretakers and repair workers. The services managed by the TMO vary with local circumstances but may include day-to-day repairs, allocations and lettings, tenancy management, cleaning and caretaking, and rent collection.

The TSA is a new independent regulator charged with  promoting and championing the interests of tenants in social housing in England. The TSA launched on 1 December 2008 and will initially focus on the regulation of all homes owned by housing associations and co-ops.  This will be rolled out across all social housing in 2010.

The role of the new regulator is threefold:
To champion the needs and aspirations of both existing and future tenants and residents and build a detailed  understanding of what they want from their housing and their landlords
•To promote choice for tenants and providers of  affordable homes; encouraging a growing and competitive market in exceptional management services and publishing market defining research that will shape the future of affordable housing provision
•To challenge providers of affordable housing to meet and exceed the highest standards of organisational    delivery through the establishment of a new standards framework that promotes choice and excellence and challenges mediocrity and complacency