# Claim notice

The prescribed notice in which an RTM company tells the landlord (and anyone else with management duties under the leases) that it claims the right to manage, and names the date it intends to take over.

Also called: notice of claim, RTM claim notice, section 79 notice.

The claim notice starts the formal right to manage process.

## Who gets it

- **Every landlord** under the leases (usually the freeholder, and any intermediate landlord).
- **Any other party to the leases** who isn't the landlord or a tenant, such as a management company named in the leases.
- **Any manager appointed by the tribunal** under Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.
- **A copy to every qualifying tenant** in the building (s.79(8)).

## What it must say

In England it must be in the prescribed form. Among other things, it names the members and their flats, and gives two dates (s.80):

- a date for any **counter-notice**, at least one month after the claim notice is given;
- the intended **acquisition date**, at least three months after the counter-notice date.

## Before you serve it

The company's members must include the qualifying tenants of **at least half of the flats** (both, if there are only two), and every notice of invitation must have been given at least 14 days earlier (s.79). Only one claim can be live at a time (s.81(3)).

## Related terms

- [Notice of invitation to participate](https://runyourblock.co.uk/glossary/notice-of-invitation-to-participate)
- [Counter-notice](https://runyourblock.co.uk/glossary/counter-notice)
- [Acquisition date](https://runyourblock.co.uk/glossary/acquisition-date)
- [RTM company](https://runyourblock.co.uk/glossary/rtm-company)

## Sources

- [Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s.79 (claim notices)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/section/79)
- [Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s.80 (contents of claim notice)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/section/80)
- [Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s.81 (claim notices: supplementary)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/section/81)

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Updated 22 October 2026. Source: https://runyourblock.co.uk/glossary/claim-notice