Right to Manage: A Plain-English Guide for Flat Owners (UK)

What is Right to Manage?

Part of our Right to Manage guide: RTM hub · Setting up an RTM company · What it costs

Right to Manage — usually shortened to RTM — is a legal right that lets leaseholders take over the management of their building from the freeholder or their managing agent. You do not have to buy the freehold. You do not have to prove anyone has done anything wrong. You just have to qualify, follow the process, and serve the right notice.

It was created by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 specifically because Parliament accepted that leaseholders were paying the bills but had no real say in how their buildings were run. RTM is the no-fault remedy.

If you've ever stared at a service charge demand and thought "we could do this better ourselves" — RTM is the mechanism that lets you actually do it.

2026 update: The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 introduced two important changes to RTM that came into force on 3 March 2025: the non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50%, and section 50 further limits the costs leaseholders can be required to pay. Both are covered below.

What RTM does (and what it doesn't)

It's worth being precise here, because RTM is often oversold by people selling the service and undersold by freeholders who'd rather you didn't bother.

What you get when you win RTM:

• Control of the service charge budget and how the money is spent
• The right to choose your own contractors, insurer, and managing agent (or no agent at all)
• The right to enforce the lease against other leaseholders (e.g. for unpaid charges or breaches)
• Control of consents — alterations, subletting, pets, where the lease requires landlord permission
• Access to all building records, contracts, and accounts

What RTM does NOT change:

• You still don't own the freehold — the freeholder still owns the building
• Your lease terms stay exactly the same
• Ground rent still goes to the freeholder
• The freeholder retains a single membership of the RTM company and gets notice of decisions

The simple way to think about it: RTM swaps who is in charge of running the building. It does not change who owns it.

Do you qualify?

RTM has a strict qualifying test. Your building needs to tick every one of these boxes:

• It contains at least two flats
• At least two-thirds of the flats are held by qualifying leaseholders (long leaseholders — original lease over 21 years)
• No more than 50% of the internal floor area is non-residential — this was raised from 25% on 3 March 2025, opening RTM to a lot more mixed-use buildings (blocks above shops, offices, gyms and the like)
• It is a self-contained building (or a self-contained part of a building)

And then a participation test:

• At least 50% of the qualifying leaseholders must be members of the RTM company before you serve the claim notice

For a small block of five flats, that means three leaseholders need to be on board. For a block of ten, you need five. It's a lower bar than most people assume.

Quick worked example: A block has 8 flats, all leasehold. 6 are held on long leases (qualifying). Two-thirds of 8 is 5.33 — so you need at least 6 qualifying leases, which you have. To serve the notice, you need 50% of the 6 qualifying leaseholders, i.e. 3 people, to be members of the RTM company. Three people. That's it.

How the process actually works

RTM is a paperwork exercise, not a court case. There are five distinct steps.

Step 1 — Form an RTM company

You incorporate a company at Companies House using the prescribed Articles of Association for an RTM company. This is non-negotiable — the wording is set by statute and using your own articles will invalidate the claim. The company is limited by guarantee (no shares), and its only purpose is to acquire and exercise the right to manage your building.

Step 2 — Recruit members

Every qualifying leaseholder is entitled to be a member. You need at least 50% of qualifying leaseholders signed up as members before the next step. In practice, getting people on board is the hardest part of RTM — it's a coordination problem more than a legal one.

Step 3 — Serve a Notice Inviting Participation

Before you can serve the claim notice, you must invite every qualifying leaseholder who isn't already a member to join. This is a formal notice with prescribed contents. You must wait at least 14 days after serving it before serving the claim notice.

Step 4 — Serve the Claim Notice

This is the formal notice on the freeholder (and any third-party manager) that the RTM company is claiming the right to manage. It must specify:

• The building
• The qualifying flats and their leaseholders
• The members of the RTM company
• A specified acquisition date at least three months in the future

Get the contents wrong and the freeholder can challenge — get them right and you're nearly there.

Step 5 — Counter-notice and acquisition

The freeholder has one month to serve a counter-notice. They can only object on narrow grounds — basically that the building doesn't qualify or the procedure was wrong. They cannot object because they don't want to lose the management. If there's no counter-notice, the right transfers automatically on the acquisition date.

If the freeholder does serve a counter-notice, the RTM company can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for a determination. Most cases that reach tribunal are won by the leaseholders, because the qualifying tests are objective.

How long does it take?

From the day you start the company to the day you take over: realistically four to six months for a clean claim, and longer if the freeholder fights it. The minimum from claim notice to acquisition is just over four months (one month for counter-notice plus the three-month acquisition date), but you also need time before that to incorporate the company, recruit members, and serve the participation notice.

Don't believe anyone selling "RTM in 30 days" — the statutory clock simply doesn't allow it.

What does it cost?

The leaseholder costs are usually modest by leasehold standards — but you do need to budget realistically. We've written a full breakdown in our guide on how much Right to Manage costs.

The headline numbers for a small block:

• Companies House incorporation — £50
• Specialist solicitor or RTM service for the notices — £1,500–£3,500 typical
• Land Registry searches and freeholder details — small administrative cost
• The freeholder's reasonable costs of dealing with the claim notice — payable by the RTM company under section 88 of the Act

You should not be paying the freeholder's costs of opposing the claim — only their reasonable costs of processing it. Section 50 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (in force from 3 March 2025) goes further and tightens what leaseholders can be made liable for in an RTM claim, so the freeholder can no longer use process costs as a way of discouraging the claim.

What changes the day after you win it

On the acquisition date, several things happen at once:

• The right to manage transfers to the RTM company
• Existing management contracts (managing agent, contractors) are usually terminated — the RTM company decides whether to keep, replace, or run things in-house
• All service charge funds held by the previous manager must be transferred to the RTM company
• Future service charges are paid to the RTM company, not the freeholder
• The RTM company becomes responsible for delivering the services the lease requires — repairs, insurance, communal cleaning, the lot

This is the moment a lot of new RTM directors realise they need a system. Group chats and shared drives don't survive contact with a real budget, real contractors, and real compliance obligations.

Common reasons people stall

• "It sounds like a lot." It's not, once you break it into the five steps. It is paperwork, not litigation.
• "My freeholder will be furious." Probably. They cannot stop you if you qualify and follow the process correctly.
• "What if we get it wrong?" A claim notice with a defect can be withdrawn and re-served. The cost is delay, not failure.
• "None of my neighbours care." This is the real one. RTM lives or dies on whether you can get 50% of qualifying leaseholders to sign one document. Start there.

After RTM: the bit nobody talks about

Winning RTM is the easy part. Running the building afterwards is where most groups struggle — because they suddenly own a budget, a compliance calendar, contractor relationships, and a legal duty to provide the services the lease requires.

If you've just won (or are about to win) RTM, the practical questions are:

• How are we tracking the service charge budget?
• Where do the contracts, certificates, and meeting minutes live?
• How do we communicate with leaseholders without losing decisions in WhatsApp?
• Who's responsible for what, and how do we hand it over when directors change?

This is exactly the gap Proppa was built to fill — a single place to run a small self-managed block without an agent. Book a demo. First month free for founding blocks at launch.

Frequently asked questions

Can the freeholder stop us getting Right to Manage?

Only on narrow procedural or qualification grounds. The freeholder cannot block RTM because they object to losing the management. If the building qualifies and the notices are valid, the right transfers — and most disputes that reach tribunal are decided in the leaseholders' favour.

Do all leaseholders have to join the RTM company?

No. You only need 50% of qualifying leaseholders to be members at the point you serve the claim notice. Non-members still pay service charges to the RTM company after acquisition and still have full rights as leaseholders — they just don't have a vote in the company.

Does Right to Manage affect my mortgage or my lease?

No. Your lease is unchanged. Your mortgage is unaffected. The freeholder still owns the freehold. RTM only changes who manages the building day-to-day.

Can we use Right to Manage if there's a current dispute with the freeholder?

Yes — RTM is a no-fault right. You don't need to prove the freeholder has done anything wrong. In practice, an existing dispute is often what motivates a group to start the process.

What happens to the existing managing agent?

On the acquisition date, the RTM company takes over the management contract and decides whether to keep the agent, replace them, or self-manage. Most agents will not actively oppose RTM — they generally lose the contract either way, and they know it.

Can we go back to the freeholder managing the building if RTM doesn't work?

Yes, in principle. The RTM company can be wound up and management would revert. In practice, almost no one does this — once leaseholders see their service charge being spent transparently, they rarely want to give that back.