Unhappy with your Building Management

If you are suffering from, and frustrated by, poor building management you may well be looking for an affordable solution. You are probably aware that you can buy the freehold, but this can be very costly and time consuming. You can also speak to your freeholder and ask for an improved service, but that is easier said than done and may not achieve results.

An alternative, which to date not everyone has heard of, is that of exercising your Right to Manage. It was introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, and gives leaseholders the legal right to take over the management of their property from the freeholder by setting up a company known as a Right to Manage company.

RTM is an important right for leaseholders; it was introduced so as to give leaseholders much more control over their buildings, and can only be challenged by the freeholder in very limited circumstances. You do not need to get the freeholder’s permission, prove any fault on the part of the freeholder or obtain any court order to exercise your right. As such, it is non-adversarial.

The application process is relatively straightforward, although it is important that the application is submitted correctly so as not to fall foul of the qualifying rules and criteria. In short, the criteria are that at least 50% of your fellow leaseholders will need to agree to take part, at least two thirds of the flats must be on leases of longer than 21 years from the date of issue, no more than 25% of the block may be used for non-residential purposes and the freeholder must not be a local authority. Where the block has four or fewer flats in it, the Right to Manage cannot be exercised if the freeholder owns one of the flats and lives in it as their main home. We will check the criteria at the outset to ensure that you qualify.