Right to Manage · England and Wales

You pay for the building. You should run it.

The Right to Manage lets leaseholders take over the management of their block from the freeholder, without buying the freehold and without proving anyone did anything wrong.

Check if your block qualifies See how it works

No fault to proveA no-fault right under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
Up to 50% non-residentialMixed-use blocks now qualify up to 50% non-residential floor area.
Your own costs onlySince 3 March 2025, each side normally bears its own costs of a claim.

Sound familiar?

OpaqueManaging agents you can't reach, and accounts you can't follow.
CreepingService charges that rise every year, with little to show for it.
Absurd£1,000+ a year for gardening on a development with 20 m² of grass.

If you're here, you have probably dealt with a management company that is mediocre at best, negligent or absent, or fraudulent at worst.

You don't need to prove any of it.

The Right to Manage is a no-fault right. You bought your lease, you pay the service charge, and you have more at stake in the building than anyone. Naturally, you should have a real say in how it is run, and housing law is slowly catching up.

Who really holds the stake?

Take a simple example: a block of 10 flats, each worth around £100,000.

Leaseholders' flats£1,000,000 about 95%

The freehold£50,000 about 5%

Illustrative figures. Assumes all flats are on long leases with more than 100 years left and low ground rent, and a freehold value of around £50,000 based on similar blocks.

Yet it is the freeholder, with about 5% of the value, who decides who manages the building. Often a freehold company appoints a management company, and neither has ever set foot in the block.

Make it make sense.

It has never been easier

Few other European countries split ownership of a building this way. Leasehold is a relic of an older, unfair housing system, and for decades the rules made it hard for leaseholders to take control of blocks in which they hold by far the biggest stake. Many of those barriers were kept in place under pressure from landlord interests.

That is changing.

Two changes took effect on 3 March 2025. The non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50%, bringing many mixed-use blocks into scope for the first time, and the rule making leaseholders liable for the landlord's costs of a claim was changed so that each side normally bears its own. Older guidance you find elsewhere may not reflect this.

More reform is on the way: the government has confirmed that the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will be introduced in the 2026–27 parliamentary session. Follow it on the law tracker.

What the process looks like

Almost every RTM claim that fails does so on a date or a defective notice rather than on the merits. These are the fixed points the Act sets, in order.

Check the building qualifiesCLRA 2002, ss.72-75
Incorporate the RTM companyCLRA 2002, s.73; model articles
Wait at least 14 daysOfficially invite flat owners to join the companyCLRA 2002, s.78
Day 15Claim the right to manage your blockCLRA 2002, ss.79-80
Days 15–46Wait for the landlord's responseup to 31 daysCLRA 2002, s.84
Only if disputedApply to the tribunalwithin 2 months, or the claim is treated as withdrawnCLRA 2002, s.84(3)
Days 46–139Landlord accepts: start preparing for handoverat least 93 days (3 months) until you take overCLRA 2002, ss.80(7), 90
From acquisitionReceive service charge funds and contractswithin 14 days of a requestCLRA 2002, ss.92-94

Not every claim follows this order.

There are edge cases. If the landlord does not respond at all, for example, the claim simply goes ahead and the acquisition date in your claim notice stands. If the landlord cannot be found, you apply to the tribunal instead. See the process guide for more.

Day counts assume the invitation is served on day 1 and the shortest periods allowed. The Act counts some periods in calendar months, so work from the exact dates in your notices.

What changes when you're in charge

I can't promise that taking over management will make everything smooth, or even better. But in my experience, that is what usually happens.

ControlYou and your neighbours decide who does the work, what it costs and when.
Lower costsStaying on top of maintenance keeps bills down. In my experience, service charges can fall by 30% to 50%, depending on how you run the block.
ValueA well-run block with sensible service charges makes your own flat worth more.

The strongest lever you have: the authority to cancel a contract

Self-managing is not for everyone. If it does not suit you, your RTM company can appoint a managing agent that reports to you. If they do a poor job, they lose the contract.

Doing it yourself

There is no requirement to instruct anybody. A group of leaseholders can incorporate the company, serve the notices and take over management themselves, and this site is written on the assumption that you will. Where a step genuinely benefits from professional help, usually the floor-area assessment in a mixed-use block or a contested tribunal application, it says so.

How it usually starts

In practice, one leaseholder has to take the initiative and lead the group. It often begins as an informal WhatsApp group where neighbours share what they know about the block, and grows from there into a registered company with members.

Many flats are sublet by landlord-leaseholders who don't live in the building. If you are the only leaseholder living there, running the block on your own may be too much. You can still do it, but don't expect to be paid for your time. At that point, appointing a managing agent may be the better choice.

How the RTM company works

MembersThe leaseholders. Members vote, and appoint and remove the directors.
DirectorsRun the block day to day: the accounts, buildings insurance and repairs. Any leaseholder can stand, and directors don't have to be leaseholders at all.
Managing agentOptional. The company can appoint one to do the day-to-day work, answering to the directors.

Get the number of directors right. Too many and decisions become slow; too few and the people involved may struggle to find the time to do the job properly.

It is a team effort

Taking over management is a bit like a team-building exercise, and you will need to navigate the social side of it as well as the legal side.

You are looking after people's biggest financial asset.

Expect stressful moments, and strong feelings when it comes to collecting service charges or raising money for major works.

What this site gives you

This site aims to give you as many practical tools as possible to get there. It is an ongoing project: nothing fancy, just the basics of running a block of roughly 2 to 28 flats.

Read the step-by-step guides →