Leaseholder's new rights to manage their flats under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform At 2002

Until the passing of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 tenants of long leasehold flats had little opportunity to wrest control over the day to day management of their flats and block except where they could prove that their landlord was not managing them properly. Now a right exists enabling tenants to club together and obtain the right to manage through the right to manage or RTM limited company of which they are each the members. It is important to recognise that there does not need to be any proven management fault on the part of landlord for the tenants to succeed in obtaining management control.

To be eligible the flats must form part of a building that:-

• is self contained (or can be re developed independently if it is part of another building);
• includes at least two flats;
• at least two thirds of the flats are let to tenants on leases of more than 21 years;
• any commercial or non residential part of the building is 25% or less of the total floor area of the building.

Additionally, the RTM company that is formed must be owned by at least half of the total flats in the building, i.e. each flat having a share in the RTM company, to ensure that transfer of the right to manage occurs by a majority wishing to transfer it.

We would assess eligibility and advise on the procedure which is relatively straightforward.

The right to manage is a useful option for those tenants who cannot afford to pay for the more expensive process of their individually acquiring a new lease (that would require payment of a sum for that new lease). Similarly, for those tenants who could not afford to pay for the cost of enfranchising by way of acquiring a share in the freehold of their building or where the tenants as a whole cannot agree that they wish to enfranchise, or where all of those tenants that might be involved in the process cannot afford to pay for the costs and their share of the freehold.

For those tenants seeking to enfranchise or, at the very least, seeking to obtain more control over the running of the building in which their flat is situated, bearing in mind that that flat may well be their biggest investment as their home, the right to manage is also a useful starting point.