The RTM Claim Process: Notices, Timeline and What Changes After You Win

The RTM claim process, step by step

Right to Manage (RTM) is a statutory right introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 that allows qualifying leaseholders in a block of flats in England and Wales to take over the management of their building from the freeholder - without having to prove mismanagement and without paying compensation to the freeholder.

RTM does not transfer ownership of the freehold. The freeholder retains ownership of the building and the land. What changes is who is responsible for arranging and overseeing the management services: maintenance, insurance, service charge collection, contractor relationships, and so on.

This matters enormously in practice. If your current managing agent is unresponsive, if service charges feel opaque, or if the building simply isn't being maintained to a reasonable standard, RTM gives leaseholders the legal mechanism to take control.

New to RTM and still deciding whether it's right for your block? Start with our complete guide to Right to Manage for the what, why and eligibility basics, then come back here for the claim mechanics.

Who qualifies for Right to Manage?

To exercise RTM, the building and the participating leaseholders must meet certain criteria:

The building must:

• Contain at least two flats held by qualifying tenants
• Have at least two-thirds of the flats held by qualifying tenants (leaseholders whose lease was originally granted for more than 21 years - the remaining term does not matter)
• Be a self-contained building or self-contained part of a building, used primarily as residential premises - if more than 50% of the internal floor area is non-residential, RTM is not available (the limit was raised from 25% in March 2025 by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, bringing many mixed-use buildings into scope)
• Not fall within the resident landlord exemption: small converted buildings (not purpose-built) with no more than four units, where the freeholder or an adult member of their family has occupied one as their only or principal home throughout the last twelve months (or moved in within 28 days of acquiring a freehold that already had a resident landlord)

The participating leaseholders must:

• Represent at least 50% of the flats in the building (so in a 20-flat block, at least 10 leaseholders must join the RTM company); where the building has only two qualifying tenants, both must be members
• Each hold a long lease (originally granted for more than 21 years)

Note: you do not need the freeholder's permission, and the freeholder cannot refuse RTM if the qualifying criteria are met. They can, however, dispute the claim - in which case you may need to apply to the tribunal to have it determined: the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for premises in England, and a leasehold valuation tribunal for premises in Wales.

Step 1: Form an RTM company

Before serving any notices, you must incorporate a Right to Manage company - a private company limited by guarantee, governed by the prescribed articles of association set out in the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (England) Regulations 2009, or, for premises in Wales, the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (Wales) Regulations 2011. Both sets of regulations were amended on 3 March 2025, so work from the current text rather than an older template.

The company must be incorporated specifically for RTM purposes and its name must end with "RTM Company Limited". Membership is open to qualifying leaseholders - all of whom are entitled to become members - and the freeholder is also entitled to join as a member from the acquisition date, once the right to manage has been acquired (membership is not automatic; the freeholder must apply to the company to be registered).

Landlords' votes in the RTM company are capped. Since 3 March 2025 they are limited to one third of the votes exercisable by the qualifying tenants, and it is the freeholder who carries that vote rather than an intermediate landlord (the model articles amendment for England and its Wales equivalent). The cap arrived alongside the 50% non-residential limit, because in a heavily mixed-use building a landlord's floor area could otherwise have carried more votes than the leaseholders' put together.

Incorporation costs £100 online via Companies House. Many solicitors who specialise in leasehold matters offer fixed-fee RTM packages that include company formation, notice preparation, and managing the claim through to completion.

Step 2: Invite all qualifying leaseholders

The RTM company must give a Notice of Invitation to Participate to every qualifying leaseholder who neither is nor has agreed to become a member of the RTM company. This notice must be given at least 14 days before the Claim Notice is served on the freeholder.

The notice must also either come with a copy of the RTM company's articles of association or say where they can be inspected and copied. If it names a place and time and the leaseholder is then not allowed to inspect, or is not given a copy, the notice counts as never having been given to that leaseholder (section 78(4) to (6)).

This step is often overlooked or rushed. Do it properly and keep a record of every notice served and when, but know that a miss is no longer fatal at the freeholder's instance. In Avon Freeholds Ltd v Cresta Court E RTM Company Ltd [2026] UKSC 31 the Supreme Court held that a freeholder cannot rely on a missed Notice of Invitation to Participate to defeat the Claim Notice. The requirement is procedural, and it is not part of the RTM company's entitlement to acquire the right, which is the only thing a Counter-Notice can dispute.

The remedy sits elsewhere, and nothing about it is automatic. Under section 107 of the 2002 Act, a qualifying tenant who was missed, or any other person interested, can ask the tribunal to order the default made good, having first given the RTM company notice to put it right and waited more than 14 days. Without such an application there is no sanction at all; with one, what the tribunal orders is a matter for its discretion, and the Court noted that an RTM company which had deliberately given no invitations could be ordered to give them and, even after a Claim Notice, to start the claim process again. Serve on everyone anyway: an overlooked neighbour is still someone you will be running the building with.

Step 3: Serve the Claim Notice on the freeholder

The RTM company then serves a Claim Notice on the freeholder (and any other relevant parties, such as a head lessee). The Claim Notice must:

• Be in the form prescribed for the country the premises are in: the Right to Manage (Prescribed Particulars and Forms) (England) Regulations 2010 or the equivalent Wales Regulations 2011
• Specify the premises and state the grounds on which it is claimed that they are premises to which the right to manage applies
• State the proposed acquisition date - at least three months after the counter-notice deadline (which is itself at least one month after the claim notice), so at least four months out in practice
• State the full name of each member of the RTM company who is a qualifying tenant of a flat in the premises, with the address of their flat
• Give particulars of each of those members' leases sufficient to identify them, including the date the lease was entered into, the term for which it was granted and the date the term commenced
• State the name and registered office of the RTM company
• Include a statement that the RTM company is entitled to exercise the right to manage and inviting each recipient to respond by the counter-notice date

The freeholder has at least one month to serve a Counter-Notice disputing the claim. If they do not respond, or if they acknowledge the claim, the RTM company acquires the right to manage on the acquisition date. Since March 2025, the RTM company is also generally no longer liable for the freeholder's process costs - another change made by the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024.

Step 4: Manage the transition

Once RTM is acquired, the new RTM company takes over the management functions from the freeholder or their managing agent. In practice, this means:

• Taking over existing maintenance and service contracts (or tendering for new ones)
• Setting up a service charge collection process and holding service charge money in a separate account
• Arranging buildings insurance and ensuring it meets the lease requirements
• Establishing a process for handling leaseholder repairs requests and maintenance issues
• Filing annual accounts and a confirmation statement with Companies House (an AGM is not legally required for a private company, but holding one is good practice)

Many RTM companies choose to appoint a professional managing agent to carry out the day-to-day management - but now on terms and at a price the RTM company controls, rather than one imposed by the freeholder.

What RTM gives you - and what it doesn't

RTM gives you:

• Control over who manages the building and on what terms
• The ability to select contractors through competitive tender
• Direct oversight of service charge expenditure
• The power to make decisions about maintenance, major works, and reserve fund levels
• A formal structure (the RTM company) for making collective decisions
• A claim on the shortfall where the leases do not recover everything. If the qualifying tenants' service charge proportions add up to less than the whole of the relevant costs, the difference is payable to the RTM company by the landlord of each unit that is not let to a qualifying tenant - the immediate landlord where the unit is sub-let, and the freeholder for a unit let to nobody, including a flat they live in themselves. Where there is more than one such unit, the difference is split between them by internal floor area (section 103)

RTM does not give you:

• Ownership of the freehold - the freeholder still owns the building and land
• The right to grant lease extensions (though leaseholders can still exercise their individual right to a statutory lease extension)
• Immunity from ground rent - ground rent under existing leases remains payable to the freeholder (new leases granted since 30 June 2022 are restricted to a peppercorn by the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022)

RTM vs. buying the freehold (collective enfranchisement)

RTM and collective enfranchisement (buying the freehold together) are often compared. Here's how they differ:

• Cost - RTM is significantly cheaper. Collective enfranchisement requires valuing and paying for the freehold, plus legal costs on both sides. RTM has legal costs but no purchase price.
• Participation threshold - RTM requires members equal to at least half the flats in the building. Collective enfranchisement also requires 50%, but has different qualifying criteria.
• Outcome - Enfranchisement gives full ownership and the ability to grant new leases. RTM gives only management control.
• Complexity - Enfranchisement is significantly more complex and expensive to execute. RTM is more straightforward.

For many blocks, RTM is the right first step: it improves management quality and transparency immediately, and leaves the door open for collective enfranchisement later if the leaseholders decide to pursue it.

Common pitfalls to avoid

• Non-standard articles of association - the prescribed model articles apply by force of law and override anything inconsistent, so adopt them as-is to avoid governance confusion
• Missing the invitation notice - since Cresta Court this no longer defeats a claim, but it remains a breach that any person interested can take to the tribunal under section 107, and it is a poor start with a neighbour you are about to manage a building alongside
• Insufficient membership - check you have 50% before serving the Claim Notice; joining after the notice is served doesn't count
• No transition plan - acquiring RTM without a clear plan for management handover can create a difficult few months for the building
• Underestimating ongoing obligations - the RTM company has ongoing duties including annual accounts, Companies House filings, and service charge administration, which should follow the government-approved RICS code (taken into account by tribunals, though not directly binding)

Getting help

The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) provides free, impartial guidance on RTM. Most specialist leasehold solicitors offer fixed-fee RTM services and can manage the process from company formation to acquisition. Expect legal fees of £2,000-£5,000 for a straightforward claim, depending on complexity and the number of participating flats.

References and further reading

• Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 - establishes collective enfranchisement and statutory lease extension rights
• Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 - introduced the Right to Manage (Part 2, Chapter 1)
• Avon Freeholds Ltd v Cresta Court E RTM Company Ltd [2026] UKSC 31 - the Supreme Court on a missed Notice of Invitation to Participate, reversing [2025] EWCA Civ 1016: not a ground a freeholder can raise by Counter-Notice, and remediable by a section 107 compliance order
• LEASE - Right to Manage guide - free, comprehensive guidance from the Leasehold Advisory Service
• First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) - handles disputed RTM claims and related applications for premises in England (for premises in Wales, a leasehold valuation tribunal)
• Companies House - for incorporating and filing returns for your RTM company

RTM is one of the most powerful tools available to leaseholders in England and Wales. Used correctly, it transforms the relationship between residents and their building's management - giving directors the control they need to run their block with confidence.

Once you've acquired the Right to Manage, the next step is getting organised. Marklet is block management software built for RTM companies - helping directors track issues, monitor service charges, and keep a complete record of every communication with their managing agent from day one.