What is the Right to Manage?
The Right to Manage is the right of leaseholders (in a building containing flats) to take over management of the building from the freeholder. This can be achieved by leaseholders appointing a Right to Manage Company or a Managing Agent to perform the function.
Do I have the Right to Manage?
There are some criteria that must be in place to understand if you qualify for the Right to Manage.
We can chat through these further with you to understand your individual circumstances but generally the below will normally need to be in place:
- There must be more than 2 flats in the building
- At lease two-thirds of flats have a long lease (over 21 years)
- At least half of flats, held by those on long leases, want to take part in the Right to Manage application
- There is not more than 25% of the total floor covering taken up by non-residential areas (such as shops/commercial units)
- A Right to Manage Company must be set up using some prescribed Articles of Association.
- A notice must be served on leaseholders who are not members (or have not agreed to become members) to make them aware of what’s happening
- Subject to no challenge of the RTM Company, the Right to Manage would be acquired within four months.
- The Right to Manage Company doesn’t have to use the same contractors as the freeholder, they can choose who they wish – so your contractors could change
- The Right to Manage Company may wish to manage the building themselves, or they could appoint a Managing Agent to do so. If they do, you would have to pay a fee to the Managing Agent
- The Right to Manage Company takes on all the responsibilities of managing the building but, where they are not the freeholder, then they would need to keep the freeholder informed and obtain permissions or authorisations where necessary.
- The Right to Manage Company has the right to enforce the terms of the leases on leaseholders (except the forfeiture clause)
- The freeholder can apply to be a member of the Right to Manage Company.
The Right to Manage Company will need to abide by company law and its Articles of Association. It will need to appoint Directors.
The Right to Manage, if applicable, is a right leaseholders can exercise. It would be a decision for the leaseholders where they live on whether to proceed with this.
We’ll work with you to help you understand how to manage the building and could also help you with finding a suitable Managing Agent, if that was something you wanted to do.
Where can I get more information?
There’s more information on the Right to Manage from the Leasehold Advisory Service, which you can visit here: Right to Manage - The Leasehold Advisory Service (lease-advice.org)
We can advise you better on your individual circumstances, so please get in touch with your Leasehold Officer if this is something you want to know more about. You might also want to speak to a solicitor for further advice.
