Right to Manage: does our block qualify, and how does it work?

When repairs stall or service charges become difficult to understand, changing the person answering your emails can feel like the obvious answer. The more important question is who has the power to appoint that person.

Right to Manage, usually called RTM, can move that decision-making role to a company controlled by the qualifying leaseholders. It is a significant change in responsibility. The best starting point is to understand both the legal route and what running the building will involve afterwards.

What does Right to Manage actually change?

The RTM company acquires the relevant management functions under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. In a straightforward block, these commonly involve maintaining shared areas, arranging insurance, preparing budgets, collecting service charges and organising repairs.

The freeholder continues to own the freehold. RTM does not extend your lease, remove ground rent or automatically recover money paid in earlier years. Lease obligations remain important. Management of commercial units, the landlord’s retained flats and wider estate facilities can fall outside the functions acquired, so the boundary needs careful checking.

An RTM company can appoint a managing agent to carry out day-to-day work. Directors then instruct and oversee that agent rather than personally arranging every repair. The company still has responsibilities; appointing an agent does not make the directors’ role disappear. LEASE explains the management functions and exclusions.

Does your building qualify for RTM?

Eligibility needs to be checked against the premises, the leases and the ownership arrangements. The headline tests below are useful, but unusual layouts, shared facilities or an intermediate landlord can require more detailed investigation.

• The premises: a self-contained building or a qualifying self-contained part of a building, containing at least two flats.
• Long leases: qualifying tenants must hold at least two-thirds of the flats. A lease originally granted for more than 21 years will commonly qualify, although there are other statutory categories.
• Participation: at the claim stage, qualifying company members must represent at least half the total number of flats. A two-flat building requires both qualifying leaseholders.
• Commercial floor space: since 3 March 2025, non-residential space must not exceed 50% of the relevant internal floor area. Shared common parts are disregarded in the statutory calculation.
• Exceptions: exclusions include certain resident-landlord conversions, local-authority landlord arrangements and some existing or recent RTM situations.

In an ordinary qualifying 12-flat block, the headline figures would therefore be eight qualifying flats and participation representing at least six flats. Six enthusiastic residents in a group chat are not necessarily six qualifying company members. Ownership and membership need to be checked.

Leaseholders do not generally have to live in their flats to take part. Joint ownership and ownership of several flats need careful recording, rather than counting the number of people who have replied. Shared ownership should also be checked under its specific qualifying rules. Read the LEASE eligibility overview and GOV.UK’s qualifying guidance.

Start with your neighbours and a realistic objective

Before spending money on notices, agree what you want to improve. “Lower charges” is understandable, but it helps to identify the underlying aim. Is it better procurement, clearer accounts, reliable repairs, planned maintenance or having someone answer questions properly?

Also discuss the work that will remain even with a good agent. Someone must approve budgets, consider proposals and make decisions when leaseholders disagree. An active board with a sensible way of communicating is more valuable than a large list of supporters who assume somebody else will do everything.

Keep an initial record of flats, owners, contact details and interest in participating. Explain why you are collecting information, keep it secure and avoid circulating everyone’s personal details in a shared message. Early expressions of interest help you plan, but they do not replace company membership or statutory notices.

The RTM process, from preparation to acquisition

1. Check the title, leases and proposed premises

   Establish the building boundary, qualifying ownership and the parties who must receive notices. A headlease or a shared estate may make this more involved than looking up the freeholder’s name.

2. Form the RTM company and organise membership

   The company must satisfy the statutory requirements and use the appropriate articles. Agree who will act as directors and how decisions and records will be handled.

3. Serve invitations to participate

   Qualifying leaseholders who are not already members must receive the prescribed invitation. The claim cannot be served until the required invitations have been given at least 14 days earlier. An informal circular is not a substitute. Read about invitations to participate.

4. Serve the claim notice

   Membership must be sufficient when the claim is made. The prescribed notice identifies the premises and sets the counter-notice deadline and proposed acquisition date. It must reach the correct recipients, including relevant intermediate landlords and other required parties. Read about the claim notice.

5. Deal with any response and prepare the handover

   If entitlement is disputed, the company normally has two months from the counter-notice to apply to the tribunal. That is a separate deadline from the proposed handover date. Get advice promptly rather than waiting for the acquisition date to arrive. Read about counter-notices and disputes.

6. Take over with services ready to continue

   Prepare the budget, insurance arrangements, contractor instructions, accounts and communication plan before responsibility transfers. Acquiring the right is a legal milestone; being ready to manage is an operational one.

How long does Right to Manage take?

The claim notice must allow at least one month for the counter-notice. The proposed acquisition date must be at least three months after that deadline. These periods alone put a straightforward claim on a timescale of at least four months from service of the claim notice.

Preparation, the invitation period and obtaining enough members come before that. A dispute, title investigation or complicated building can add time. Treat “four months” as part of the statutory timetable, not a promise that an entire RTM project will finish four months after the first residents’ meeting.

Work backwards from a practical handover date. Consider insurance renewal, the service-charge year and the time needed to arrange essential services. A slightly later but prepared start is preferable to a rushed transfer with no clear cover or maintenance arrangements.

What does RTM cost?

There is no single reliable per-flat price for every building. Ask for a scope explaining company formation, title and lease investigation, invitations, the claim, disputed proceedings and handover support. Check VAT, disbursements and what happens if the claim does not proceed.

For claims under the rules introduced on 3 March 2025, the general position is that the RTM company does not pay the landlord’s ordinary claim-process costs. There are statutory exceptions, including circumstances involving unreasonable conduct and a claim that fails to proceed. Do not budget on either “the landlord can charge everything” or “there can never be a costs order”. Read the government’s explanation of the 2025 reforms.

A costs order under section 87B can also expose members to joint and several liability, with former members potentially liable in specified circumstances. Do not treat a company limited by guarantee as a complete answer to every statutory costs risk. A claim failing does not, by itself, establish all the conditions for that order. Read the explanatory notes on the revised costs rules.

Keep project funding distinct from the building’s running budget. Ask how initial contributions will be held, what they cover and how unused money will be dealt with. Do not assume acquisition costs can simply be taken from an existing service-charge reserve. The leases and the purpose of the money matter.

For a useful proposal comparison, ask each adviser to answer the same scenario: the claim proceeds without objection, the landlord contests eligibility, or support falls away before the claim. You can then see the financial consequences of a change in circumstances, rather than comparing headline fees that cover different work.

What must be ready for the handover?

Prepare a simple responsibility schedule. Who is arranging insurance? Who can authorise emergency expenditure? Who holds the keys and contractor contacts? Who is communicating new payment instructions, and how will residents verify that they are genuine?

Do not assume every existing service contract transfers automatically on the same terms. Identify the arrangements needed from acquisition and confirm continuity with the relevant providers. Read about contracts when RTM is acquired.

Unspent service-charge money, including relevant reserves, is subject to the statutory transfer arrangements. The amount and timing may need reconciliation, so plan for cash flow rather than treating an estimated balance as money already available. Read about transfer of funds.

For larger or more complex buildings, establish which fire-safety and building-safety duties sit with which party. RTM should not be treated as a shortcut around those duties. Outstanding safety concerns need an appropriate response while the claim is progressing.

Common RTM questions

Does every leaseholder have to join?

No. The statutory participation threshold is lower than unanimity, with the special requirement for a two-flat building. Even so, wider support makes funding, communication and later decisions easier. Qualifying leaseholders who join later still have membership rights.

Can the freeholder refuse because they prefer the current agent?

A preference for the existing agent does not itself defeat a valid claim. The legal question is whether the company is entitled to acquire the right. A counter-notice disputing entitlement needs a proper response within the statutory timetable.

Will RTM guarantee a lower service charge?

No. It gives the company control over relevant management decisions. Existing defects, insurance costs or underfunded maintenance may still require significant expenditure. Compare service quality, planned work and financial visibility as well as the annual figure.

Is RTM suitable for an unusual headlease or a missing landlord?

Those situations need investigation before a route is chosen. Statutory procedures exist for some missing-landlord cases, but a missing landlord, a dissolved company and a disclaimed lease are different circumstances. Do not assume a standard RTM checklist resolves them.

For the wider service context, visit our Right to Manage page. If your company already controls management and simply wants a different agent, start with our block management overview.

When you want to talk it through

Thinking about RTM for your building?

Tell us the number of flats, whether there are commercial areas, who currently manages the building and how much interest there is among owners. We can discuss the information needed to explore your options.

Talk through your RTM starting point↗

Keep exploring

Put this question in context

For the wider picture, explore Right to Manage support.

• RTM and RMC directors: what stays your responsibility when you appoint an agent?↗Understand which responsibilities stay with RTM and RMC directors, what to delegate to a managing agent and the financial, safety and company records to check.
• Can we change our managing agent? A guide for leaseholders and directors↗Find out who can change a block’s managing agent, how to review the appointment, compare proposals and plan a handover that keeps essential services running.