The TMO had faced heavy criticism for its management of homes prior to last June’s fatal fire at Grenfell Tower and for its subsequent response.
Deputy council leader Kim Taylor Smith – who took office after the fire – said: “The TMO has lost the trust of residents, the council and government.”
In a letter to tenants and leaseholders, Taylor-Smith said the council would take over management of homes and services pending a consultation with residents on how they wanted these to be managed in future.
He said the TMO would continue to exist as a legal entity “so that leaders can be called to the public inquiry and held to account in any criminal or civil legal proceedings that may take place in the future”.
The council take over was “not a way for the KCTMO to avoid accountability”, he added.
Prime minister Theresa May last summer ordered the council to remove the TMO from the estate in which Grenfell Tower stood.
The TMO was established in 1996 in what was then a novel approach to housing management, with the council retaining ownership but the TMO taking on day-to-day control of homes.
In 2002 it added major capital works to its responsibilities.
The TMO was governed by a board of eight elected tenants or leaseholders, four councillors and three independent directors. It functioned as a limited company.
