This book is not intended as a standard reference wo rk for pract itioners to look up the 'right' way to manage housing. There is sufficient variety in the types of housing organisations, the breadth of expectation and the ideological differences amongst control ling factions for such a task to be both impractica l and undesirable. Housing management has been subjected to such radica l change over recent years that any attempt to offer a purely descri ptive wo rk in the Macey and Baker style would be of limited value. Even if techn icall y correct, it could only hope to provide a snapshot in tim e and offer a broad generalisatio n of housing practice. Wh ilst it is incontrovertible that all local authorities are bound by legislation and government decree, and housing assoc iations by Housing Corporation guidelines, there remains such a gap between interpretation and implementation as to make any study of the legal and techni cal requirements a backdrop rather than an analysis of the main issues.