'A two-tier structure gets everyone involved'

When the residents of Tony Tuck's 1896 Battersea block bought the freehold 20 years ago, they decided not to wind up their residents' association. The result is a two-tier structure that keeps the maximum number of residents involved and encourages leaseholders to come forward as directors.

Tuck, a retired civil servant and local councillor, chairs the seven-strong board, which includes a surveyor, a former UN worker, a headteacher and an IT specialist. Tuck's wife, trade union general secretary Julie McKnight, chairs the residents' association.

"We've got both the trade union side and the management side, the directors taking the big decisions and the residents getting a feeling of community," jokes Tuck. "I believe in creative tension as the best way to run things. The directors are kept on their toes by the residents."

The size of the 86-flat block and the low level of subletting (about 10 per cent) aids the recruitment of directors. But, with the residents' association staging social events as well as providing a mechanism for consultation, there is plenty of scope for leaseholders to get involved.