A guide for leaseholders
Right to Manage
The Right to Manage lets leaseholders in England take over the management of their building from the freeholder, without buying the freehold and without having to prove anything has gone wrong.
Updated October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
Does your building qualify?
Most purpose-built blocks of flats do. A building usually qualifies if:
- it is self-contained, or a self-contained part of a building;
- it contains at least two flats held by leaseholders with long leases (usually over 21 years);
- those leaseholders hold at least two-thirds of all the flats;
- no more than half of its internal floor area is commercial (shops or offices). This limit rose from 25% to 50% on 3 March 2025, so mixed-use buildings that did not qualify before may now.
Buildings that are excluded
- Conversions of four or fewer flats where the freeholder, or a member of their family, has lived in one of the flats for the last 12 months
- Buildings where a local council is the landlord of any of the leaseholders
- Buildings that had the Right to Manage within the last four years
The steps
If the freeholder does not dispute the claim, the legal steps take at least four and a half months from the first notice, plus the time to organise leaseholders and set up the company.
Check the building qualifies and gather support
Talk to your neighbours and gauge interest. You will need the names and addresses of the leaseholders, which you can get from HM Land Registry.
Set up the RTM company
Form a company limited by guarantee, using the articles prescribed for RTM companies. At least one leaseholder becomes a director.
Invite every qualifying leaseholder to join
Serve a notice inviting participation on each qualifying leaseholder who is not yet a member. You must wait at least 14 days before the next step.
Serve the claim notice
Once members make up at least half of the flats in the building, serve the claim notice on the freeholder (and any other party to the leases), with a copy to every qualifying leaseholder. It must give the freeholder at least one month to respond and set an acquisition date at least three months after that.
The freeholder responds
The freeholder can agree or serve a counter-notice disputing the claim. If it is disputed, the RTM company has two months to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), which decides whether the right applies.
Take over management
On the acquisition date the RTM company takes over management. The freeholder or outgoing agent must hand over the uncommitted service charge money, and contracts, records and safety information should follow.
What the RTM company takes on
The RTM company takes over the management duties in the leases: services, repairs, maintenance, improvements and insurance. It collects the service charge and is responsible for the building’s safety and compliance.
It can also grant consents under the leases, such as for alterations or subletting, but must give the freeholder notice first: 30 days for most consents and 14 days for others.
What stays with the freeholder
- Ownership of the building and the ground rent
- Anything to do with forfeiture of a lease
- Management of parts not let to qualifying leaseholders, such as commercial units
Questions leaseholders ask
Do we need the freeholder’s agreement?
No. If the building and the RTM company meet the legal requirements, the freeholder cannot refuse. It can only dispute whether the requirements are met, and the tribunal decides.
Do we have to prove the building is badly managed?
No. You do not need to show any fault by the freeholder or its agent.
Do leaseholders who don’t join still have to pay?
Yes. Their leases do not change, so they still pay their service charge, which is now collected for the RTM company.
Does the freeholder still own the building?
Yes. The freeholder keeps the freehold and the ground rent. Right to Manage transfers management, not ownership.
Who pays the freeholder’s costs?
Since 3 March 2025, the RTM company and its members are generally not liable for the freeholder’s costs of the claim. The exceptions are limited, for example costs ordered by a tribunal if a claim is withdrawn and the company acted unreasonably.
How we help
Most RTM companies are run by volunteer directors, and most appoint a managing agent to run the building day to day. We can support the whole process: checking whether your building qualifies, gathering support, preparing the notices with a solicitor’s review, and planning the handover so that services, insurance and safety checks carry on without a gap.
We then take over the management from the acquisition date, with the records, contracts and client money transferred and checked.
Our Right to Manage support costs £1,750, credited against our fees if you then appoint us as your managing agent. See our fees.
Already have the Right to Manage?
If your RTM company wants a new managing agent, read our guide to switching managing agent and see our case studies.
Sources
Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, as amended by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024: qualifying premises (s72), excluded premises (Schedule 6), notice of claim (s79), contents of claim notice (s80), counter-notices (s84), acquisition date (s90), duty to pay accrued uncommitted service charges (s94), management functions (s96), approvals (s98), and costs (Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, s50). Commencement of the 2025 changes: SI 2025/131.
Thinking about Right to Manage?
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