How to claim the right to manage, step by step

This guide follows the law as it stands in England after the changes of 3 March 2025. Many older guides online describe the old rules on costs and commercial space.

1. Get organised and check you qualify

   Find out who owns every flat. HM Land Registry title registers show each leaseholder's name, the length of their lease, and who owns the freehold. Then check the building meets the four tests in Does our building qualify?.

   Talk to your neighbours early. You'll need members holding at least half of all the flats, and you'll need some of them to volunteer as directors.

2. Ask the landlord for any missing information (optional)

   If you need details for the claim notice that you can't get elsewhere, the RTM company can ask the landlord for them. The landlord must reply within 28 days, and the RTM company pays the reasonable costs of answering (s.82).

3. Form the RTM company

   Register it at Companies House as a private company limited by guarantee, with a name ending "RTM Company Limited". Its articles are the prescribed model articles, which apply whether or not you adopt them. You'll need at least one director, a registered office address, and identity verification for each director. There's a Companies House fee.

4. Sign up your members

   Every qualifying leaseholderQualifying tenantFor the right to manage, the leaseholder of a flat under a long lease, which normally means a lease granted for more than 21 years. is entitled to join. Each one applies in writing, and the company enters them in its register of members. Joint owners join together as one member.

5. Invite everyone who hasn't joined

   Give a notice of invitation to participateNotice of invitation to participateThe prescribed notice an RTM company must give to every qualifying tenant who isn't already a member, inviting them to join, at least 14 days before it serves the claim notice. to every qualifying leaseholder who isn't a member and hasn't agreed to become one. Use the prescribed form. Include a copy of the articles, or say where and when they can be inspected and how to order a copy.

   Keep proof of how and when each notice was given. Post it to the flat and to any other address you have for owners who don't live there.

6. Wait at least 14 days

   The claim notice can't be given until at least 14 days after the last notice of invitation (s.79(2)). Count carefully and add a margin for post: claims have failed because the gap was a day short.

7. Check your numbers

   On the day you serve the claim notice, the members must include the qualifying leaseholders of at least half of all the flats in the building. With only two flats, both must be members.

8. Serve the claim notice

   Use the prescribed form. Give it to every landlord under the leases, any other party to the leases (such as a management company), and any manager appointed by the tribunal. Send a copy to every qualifying leaseholder, members or not.

   The notice sets two dates (s.80):

   • the date by which a counter-notice must be given: at least one month after the claim notice is given;
   • the acquisition date: at least three months after the counter-notice date.

9. Wait for the landlord's reply

   The landlord may admit the claim, dispute it with a counter-noticeCounter-noticeThe landlord's formal reply to a right to manage claim notice, either admitting that the RTM company is entitled to manage or saying why it is not., or not reply at all. No reply means there's no dispute. The landlord and the company each have a right of access to the building on 10 days' notice (s.83).

   If the counter-notice disputes the claim, the RTM company must apply to the First-tier TribunalFirst-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)The tribunal in England that decides most leasehold disputes, including right to manage claims, whether service charges are payable or reasonable, and applications for dispensation from Section 20 consultation. within two months, or the claim is treated as withdrawn (ss.84, 87).

10. Prepare to take over

    Before the acquisition date, the landlord or its agent must tell contractors about the change and tell you about existing contracts. You can ask for the information you need to manage. Line up buildings insurance, a bank account and your first budget. See Handover from the old manager.

Mistakes that sink claims

• Cutting the 14-day gap fine. Tribunals treat it as a strict requirement.
• Missing someone out. Every qualifying leaseholder must get a notice of invitation (unless they've joined), and every landlord and third party must get the claim notice.
• Old forms or home-made notices. Use the current prescribed forms from legislation.gov.uk.
• Counting the wrong thing. The half is of all flats in the building, not of the qualifying leaseholders.
• Missing the tribunal deadline after a disputed counter-notice.

Since the Supreme Court's decision in A1 Properties v Tudor Studios (2024), tribunals look at the consequences of a mistake rather than treating every slip as fatal, and minor errors in the particulars don't invalidate a claim notice (s.81(1)). But don't rely on that: timing and service mistakes still cause claims to fail.

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This is general information, not legal advice. Every building and lease is different. For free initial advice, contact LEASE (The Leasehold Advisory Service): https://www.lease-advice.org/