Right to Manage

We set up RTM Companies and provide management options beyond.

Leasehold property owners can claim the right to manage their block without having to prove any fault on the part of the current landlord or manager.

Why setup an RTM company?

As a leaseholder there could be many reasons for wanting to take responsibility for the management of your block. Perhaps you would like more control over the level of service charges set, wish to appoint your own choice of managing agent, or want to select your own insurance policy for the block.

Whatever the reason, you could benefit directly from exercising the Right To Manage, as long as you are comfortable with the responsibility that this brings.

Step 1

How to get your Right to Manage started
Tests: Can we qualify for RTM?

Step 2

How to get your RTM Company set up

Step 3

Find who wants to Participation - The Participation Notice

Step 4

Serve the RTM Claim Notice

Step 5

Tribunal issues for RTM Claims

Step 1 - How to get your Right to Manage started

To begin you will need to know the names and addresses of the other leaseholders in your block to tell them about the Right to Manage process and invite them to participate.

There are several ways find out who your fellow leaseholders are;

You can knock on doors,
Ask any sub-tenants who they pay rent to,
If they pay rent to an Agent ask the Agent to forward on a letter to the owner,
Write to the Freeholder asking them for a list of lessees,
Instruct us to do a land registry search on each flat - £10+Vat per flat.
Instruct us to serve an information Notice for you £250 + Vat

Then we recommend you send a letter explaining what RTM is all about and that you would like to help your block claim its Right to Manage. It would be a good idea to set out the reasons why RTM would benefit your block.

Tests: Can we qualify for RTM?

You must invite every Leaseholder and the Freeholder to participate in your RTM Claim, unless they are already a member of your Right to Manage company, so you should encourage everybody to respond. If you don't get a response from every Leaseholder and the Freeholder you will need to serve a formal "Participation Notice" and you don't want to go to the expense of forming your RTM Company if there will be insufficient support.(STEP 3) The Participation Notice cannot be served until you have formed the RTM Company (you and 1 other co-operative leaseholder) else what are you asking them to participate in!

Having achieved enough support to get started (just 2 leaseholders), if your block passes the following 4 tests the next step is to form a Right To Manage company.

Are there 2 or more flats in the block?
Are there 2 leaseholders willing to be Directors of the RTM Company
Does your block consists of a self-contained building or self-contained part of a building (i.e., it could be redeveloped independently and has, or could have, its own services) and if there is any commercial/non-residential element this to be no more than 25% of the floor area
Do at least two thirds of the flat owners must have long leases (original length of lease more than 21 years), it does not matter if flat owners do not live in or rent out their flats

Step 5 - Tribunal issues for RTM Claims

Ok, so you have a difficult Landlord who disputes your claim.

The good news is that Leaseholders do not need to prove any fault on behalf of the landlord to exercise their Right To Manage.

To dispute the claim the landlord must prove that your Right to Manage application does not comply with the 2002 Act, for example, claiming there are

Errors in the initial application,
That your block is not a self-contained building, or part of a building
Any commercial element exceeds 25% of the floor area,
There are not enough flats owned on long leases.
If it is not detached, 3 sub-tests must be met

there must be vertical divisions with the adjoining buildings, minimal deviation may not render your claim invalid – see Finland Street case
it must be capable of being redeveloped independently and
if there are shared facilities or services, they must be capable of being provided independently without significant interruption, ie:

Identifying the services not provided independently,
Can they provided independently,
If so what works are necessary,
What interruption would this entail,
Is this disruption “significant”?for example, heating, if the boiler house is shared with an adjoining block, your block will not be self contained and capable of RTM - See Oakwood Court case.

Assuming the Landlord does not resist your claim (by serving a Counter Notice) the acquisition date for the Right to Manage is 4 months after the date of your Claim Notice. It may be worth considering, therefore, the timing of your initial Claim Notice to avoid busy periods, bank holidays and so on.

If the Landlord does not resist your claim, then congratulations you can take control of your property and the way it's services are managed.

Download a Participation Agreement Pack Now £50+VAT

Want us to do it for you?

Get Ringley Legal Services to create a Participation Agreement for you £150 min or £10 per flat

Property Management after RTM

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The Right to Manage Company Duties

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Low Cost Managing Agent

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The Right to Manage Company Duties

Congratulations you've achieved your RTM. You can take control of your property and the way it's services are managed.

The effective date is either the date stated on your Claim Notice. From this date the RTM company is takes over the landlord's responsibilities for the maintenance, repair, collecting service charges, accounting, insurance and overall management of the block.

After the handover the landlord's position is similar to that of a leaseholder and if the landlord also a member of the RTM company they will have democratic voting right too. Like any other leaseholder in the block he/she may sue the RTM company for bad performance or apply to the FTT.

Before you gain control however, there are still few things you need to do:

Collect as much information as possible from the landlord and any third parties (such as a managing agent) about the building.
- A List of leaseholders names
- A list of service charge percentages & due dates,
- Current arrears balances for each flat,
- Copies of each lease,
- Copy of the current insurance policy,
- Copy of service charge cashbook ledgers since the last set of service charge accounts.
Exercise your right of access to the building. You should be able to access all common parts in the block.
Consider who is to undertake the management of the block. Managing a residential block is a considerable responsibility and one that should not be undertaken without a realistic consideration of what is involved.

Appointing a Managing Agent after your RTM

Advisory bodies are agreed that leaseholders should be encouraged to appoint an a Managing Agent initially, even if their long-term aim is to manage the block themselves.

Our 3 suggested ways to manage your block going forward

Tips on handover after RTM

The landlord must also fulfil his/her duties as part of the handover:
The landlord must inform any contractors currently providing services to the block that the Right To Manage is being exercised.
The landlord must inform the RTM company of any existing contracts concerning the block.

I’m a landlord, download S82 Contractors Notice. £30+VAT

A full and clear picture of the block's accounts must be provided. Any leftover service charge revenue must be transfered to the RTM company on the acquisition date. Before funds are transferred the landlord will need to settle any outstanding bills with contractors. This process may take some time.

For a more detailed description of the RTM timeline view the RTM Flowchart