What is Right to Manage for leaseholders?

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Right to Manage (RTM) is a statutory right that allows leaseholders in qualifying blocks of flats to take over responsibility for managing their building -- covering things like maintenance, service charge collection, insurance, and choice of managing agent -- without having to prove the current freeholder or managing agent has done anything wrong. **Eligibility** To qualify, the building generally needs to consist of at least two flats held on long leases (over 21 years originally), with at least two-thirds of the flats let to qualifying leaseholders and no more than a limited proportion of the building's floorspace used for non-residential purposes. Historically this non-residential limit was 25%; the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 raises it to 50%, allowing more mixed-use buildings (for example, with ground-floor shops) to qualify for RTM. **How it works** Leaseholders form a special company (an RTM company) and, provided enough qualifying leaseholders participate (at least 50% of the flats, in most cases), can serve formal notice on the freeholder to take over management functions. The freeholder cannot refuse if the statutory conditions are met, though they can challenge the process at the First-tier Tribunal if they believe the requirements have not been satisfied. **What RTM does and doesn't do** RTM transfers management responsibilities and decision-making to the leaseholders' own company, but it does not transfer ownership of the freehold itself -- that would require a separate collective enfranchisement (buying the freehold) claim. RTM can still be a powerful tool where leaseholders are unhappy with high service charges, poor maintenance, or unresponsive management, without the higher cost and complexity of buying the freehold outright. **Costs** Under the 2024 Act reforms, leaseholders exercising RTM should no longer generally have to pay the freeholder's legal and professional costs of the RTM claim itself (a significant change from the previous rules, where leaseholders often had to cover both sides' costs), though the RTM company will need to budget for its own setup and ongoing management costs. **Practical tip** Before pursuing RTM, get enough leaseholders on board to meet the participation threshold, and consider appointing a professional managing agent to work for the RTM company rather than trying to self-manage a large or complex building without professional support.

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