As the Loughborough Estate crisis grows Lambeth dives for cover behind Steve Reed

Lambeth Council has released details of the letter it has sent to Housing Secretary, Streatham’s Steve Reed MP, urging the government to reform the national rules governing Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs), after serious failings were uncovered at the Loughborough Estate.

The letter follows an audit that uncovered major concerns about Loughborough Estate Management Board (LEMB), the tenant‑run body, who’s Chair Peter Shorinwa recently invoked the devil, claiming Council orchestrated violence. The audit found significant failings in LEMB’s financial management, governance and procurement, including substantial spending on foreign travel and gifts without adequate justification. Lambeth has referred LEMB to the Financial Conduct Authority over the potential misuse of funds.

Lambeth’s Cllr Danny Adilypour, said the case exposed “gaps” in the powers available to councils when a TMO is failing its residents. In the letter to Reed, Adilypour warns that;

“The detrimental operations of some TMOs have led to serious negative impacts for tenants and the current legal framework binds the hands of local authorities to take decisive action against poorly operating TMOs”

He also points out that the government’s standard Modular Management Agreement (MMA), the legal framework for TMOs, was last updated in 2013, and no longer reflects the safety‑related legislation introduced over the past decade, adding that:

“There are significant changes that need to be made to the MMA to ensure that residents can be confident that their housing management is fit for purpose and so that they are not left to suffer in the same way as residents living on the estate managed by LEMB” – Cllr Danny Adilypour.

Lambeth’s letter to Reed sets out several suggested reforms for the Government to introduce, including stricter rules for continuation ballots, faster enforcement when TMOs perform poorly, powers to end agreements in cases of serious breaches, limits on committee terms, and the ability to update the MMA as laws change.

Lambeth has already intervened in response to Shorinwa’s now infamous ‘Devil letter’, which contained numerous ‘extraordinary’ and unsubstantiated allegations, as justification to hold its AGM online, in breach of its own rules. The council wrote directly to residents on the estate offering to provide council offices and security for the meeting to ensure everyone could participate safely.

However while Loughborough Voices welcomed Adilypour’s call for change, it said that Lambeth Council must also be held accountable itself for years of inaction. A spokesperson for the residents’ group told the Buzz that although they became active just three years ago, concerns raised by residents about LEMB consistently date much further back, throughout Shorinwa’s 15 years governance.

The group also described it as “absurd” that Lambeth lacked the powers to act decisively against an organisation it funds with £3 million of public money per year, adding:

“We’re still waiting for a public meeting about the audit, our petition, and the future governance of the estate. Emails to the council and TMO unit remain unanswered” – Loughborough Voices.

Brixton Buzz has asked Lambeth when its damning LEMB internal audit will be brought before the Housing Scrutiny Sub-Commitee, but have had no response to date. Green Party Councillor Nicole Griffiths who sits on the Sub-Committee added to the growing demands for accountability.

“The LEMB Audit isn’t currently on the HSSC agenda. We have a pre-meet for the January meeting and I will be asking for this to be added to the Agenda. It’s too urgent a matter for the Council to bypass scrutiny on how things have got to the current state of affairs – both the Council & LEMB members have questions to answer” – Cllr Nicole Griffiths.

Lambeth has said that officers will now work with officials at the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide further detail on the legislative and regulatory changes required.

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There’s a certain circular irony in Lambeth asking Streatham’s Steve Reed, its former leader to fix a broken system he left behind. It highlights the tiny, recycled circuits of power in British democracy, largely insulated from the coalface and communities they represent.

We simply can’t afford to ignore our public bodies, councils or TMOs, that’s a recipe for calamity chowder à la Peter Shorinwa’s Cook le Book. Adilypour has made some good suggestions, just a decade or so late, by his own reckoning. Of course, the devil will be in the detail, but decent legislation requires decent public scrutiny. Oh, another irony!

More info

View Lambeth’s ‘letter to Reed’ statement

View LEMB Published Accounts

Are you a Loughborough Resident? Contact Loughborough Voices Insta

Join the Discussion on Urban 75

LEMB Loughborough Estate. Please read the plight of Loughborough Estate under this management

DISCLAIMER: Demonic imagery and culinary references used in this and linked articles are purely satirical. Neither the writer nor Brixton Buzz are claiming, implying or insinuating that Lambeth Council, or any other person or persons, is the actual devil, in league with the devil, or cooking the books with the Prince of Darkness.