Lambeth Alliance of Tenant Management Organisations: Introduction

In February 2010, ‘AWICS’ was appointed as Independent Residents’ Advisor to the tenants and other residents of the three estates managed by the Lambeth Alliance of Tenant Management Organisations (LATMOS) in Lambeth.

LATMOS is formed by tenants and leaseholders to transfer the ownership and management of the housing to another landlord.

Five TMOs originally approached the council in 2006 with a request that the Council support them in their proposal to develop a stock transfer through a community gateway model.

Unfortunately, there have been a number of delays and setbacks in the progress of this application due to the withdrawal of two Tenant Management Organisations from the process and the undertaking of a new stock condition survey required to inform the Stock Transfer Model.

Therefore, out of the original five TMOs only three remain, this means that the focus of the project is now on the Ethelred, Magdalen and Thorlands Estates.

LATMOS believes that in these areas stock transfer is the best way of securing more investment in homes, better services and a continuation of the TMOs. 

However, this change in landlord can only occur with support of residents. As Kathy Thomas, Chair of LATMOS tells us this is being done in order to “Secure the best housing future possible for the residents of Ethelred, Magdalen and Thorlands Estates”.

LATMOS successfully bid for a grant from the Housing Corporation to support the feasibility stage and the council agreed to match fund this grant.

However, due to the amount needed to be spent on repair within the homes and estates it has not been possible for LATMOS to take on the housing as a standalone landlord and therefore has had to look for help from an existing landlord.

This landlord would have to be a registered provider, this is a not-for-profit social landlord registered with the Tenant Services Authority.

To select the partners a panel has been set up. This panel includes members of the Shadow Board.

The Council has appointed ‘AWICS’ as an Independent Resident Advisor to work with residents across the three estates to explain the transfer proposals to tenants and other residents, to gauge the level of support and report their findings back to tenants and other residents and the council.

It is intended that all LATMOS properties will be brought up to the Decent Homes standard set by the Government. The proposed transfer would mean this standard could be met and improved upon within the first five years.

These improvements would include carrying out roof replacements and rewiring of homes and communal areas as necessary.

Why a partner is needed

When LATMOS first began the idea was to look at the possibility of the TMOs taking on the housing from the Council and operating as a standalone landlord. However, now that there is more known about the condition of the homes and the cost of repairing, improving and maintaining them it is clear that LATMOS needs to work alongside a partner landlord.

An independent firm of surveyors called Hunters looked at the homes on the three estates and assessed what needed to be done to them to meet the decent homes plus standard and to keep to that standard in future.

After this work was completed advisors of LATMOS; Tribal, compared the cost of this work with the income that would be made available from rents and other sources. The end result after all the valuations and calculations were done was that LATMOS could not afford to act as a standalone landlord.

This is why a partner is needed. Therefore, the process has been put into motion to find a preferred registered provider. Once this is done a detailed proposal can be put together for tenants to vote on.

Those applicants that are short listed in September/August will meet the TMOs, the Shadow Board and the residents of the estates.

This will include contact with residents through open exhibitions on the estates from October onwards. By December LATMOS hopes to have its partner in place.

Details will be put together of what will happen if the transfer goes ahead with the preferred partner and a ballot for tenants is expected to be held in the later part of 2011.

It must be noted that for the transfer to go ahead, at least half of the vote must be in favour.

Role of the Independent Residents’ Advisor

The role of the Independent Residents’ Advisor is:

  • Arranging and structuring meetings of representative groups to discuss proposals, ensuring that representatives from often-excluded are encouraged and enabled to participate.
  • Procuring expert advice on major issues should they arise. This may include:
    • legal advice on tenancy matters
    • expert advice on financial matters
  • Representing and supporting residents in negotiations and discussions with other key stakeholders in the process, including Lambeth housing staff and any proposed new landlord.
  • Assisting with identifying additional benefits for residents
  • Ensuring that as many residents as possible are well informed of any proposals
  • Giving advice to individual residents on issues as they arise. This could include visiting residents in their homes, setting up a free phone service and organising block meetings
  • Designing and publishing independent newsletters and information leaflets, providing translations where necessary
  • Servicing meetings as required
  • Providing to the council a clear demonstration of resident support for the chosen option

We are now putting together our action plan which will be posted on this website when it is complete.

Who are our Advisors?

Three of our consultants will be working on this project:

  • Adrian Waite is Managing Director of AWICS - to view his biography click here
  • Paul Lusk is an Associate Consultant with AWICS - to view his biography click here
  • Steve Harriott is an Associate Consultant with AWICS - to view his biography click here

How to contact your Independent Residents’ Advisor?

Further Information

Further information will be made available on this website as it becomes available.

Useful Links

Some more information on LATMOS can be found on the following pages: