RMC Director Responsibilities: The Complete Checklist for UK Blocks

Becoming a director of your Residents' Management Company usually starts with a tap on the shoulder at an AGM. What nobody hands you is the job description. This checklist is that job description: every responsibility an RMC director actually carries, organised so a volunteer board can divide the work and check nothing is slipping.

New to the structure itself? Read what an RMC is and how it works first - this article assumes you know why the company exists and gets straight into what its directors must do.

1. Company law duties

• File the confirmation statement - once a year, to Companies House, even if nothing changed. Missing it can lead to the company being struck off - which, for an RMC that owns the freehold, is a genuine emergency.
• File annual accounts - most small RMCs qualify for dormant or micro-entity accounts if the service charge money is held on trust and the company itself does not trade. Confirm the treatment with your accountant once, then repeat it.
• Keep statutory registers up to date - directors, members, persons with significant control. Update Companies House within 14 days of board changes.
• Act within the Companies Act 2006 general duties - within your powers, promoting the company's success, with independent judgment and reasonable care, declaring any conflicts (for example, a director whose firm quotes for block work).
• Hold and minute meetings - an AGM if the articles require one, board meetings at a sensible cadence, and written minutes for every decision that spends leaseholders' money.

2. Service charge and financial duties

• Set a budget before the year starts - line by line, shared with leaseholders, matched to the lease's service charge machinery (percentages, due dates, reserve fund powers).
• Issue valid demands - including the landlord's name and address (Sections 47-48, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987) and the prescribed summary of rights and obligations. Invalid demands are not legally payable until corrected.
• Hold service charge funds on trust - Section 42, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Separate client account, not mixed with company or personal money.
• Only incur reasonable costs - Section 19, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Get comparative quotes for significant work and keep them; "we always use this contractor" does not survive a Tribunal.
• Respect the 18-month rule - Section 20B: costs not demanded (or notified) within 18 months of being incurred cannot be recovered.
• Provide account summaries on request - and honour leaseholders' statutory rights to inspect invoices and receipts. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 is phasing in standardised annual statements, so build the habit before it becomes mandatory.
• Chase arrears early and consistently - a written escalation path applied evenly protects both cash flow and neighbourly relations.

3. Consultation duties (Section 20)

• Qualifying works - if any leaseholder would pay more than £250, run the two-stage consultation: notice of intention, then statement of estimates, each with a 30-day observation window.
• Qualifying long-term agreements - contracts over 12 months costing any leaseholder more than £100 a year need their own consultation route.
• Respond to observations in writing - and have regard to leaseholder contractor nominations.
• Document every stage - the penalty for getting this wrong is recovery capped at £250 per leaseholder, however good the works were. Our service charge demands guide explains the mechanics from the leaseholder's side of the fence.

4. Building, safety, and compliance duties

• Fire risk assessment - in place, reviewed regularly, and its action items actually closed out and evidenced.
• Routine compliance checks - electrical installation condition report (typically five-yearly for common parts), lift inspections (six-monthly under LOLER where applicable), asbestos management survey, legionella risk assessment, emergency lighting and alarm testing.
• Buildings insurance - adequate reinstatement value (revalued periodically), directors' and officers' cover for the board, and engineering inspection cover for lifts and plant.
• Building Safety Act 2022 - if your building is higher-risk (over 18 metres or seven storeys), the RMC may be an accountable person with registration and safety case duties. Our guide to the 4th edition Service Charge Code covers the overlap with service charge governance.
• Planned maintenance - a rolling plan for roofs, decoration cycles, and plant replacement, funded through reserves rather than emergency demands.

5. Records and communication duties

• Keep an issue log - every reported defect, what was decided, who was instructed, what it cost, when it closed.
• Link the paper trail - quotes to decisions, decisions to invoices, invoices to budget lines. This is exactly the evidence a Tribunal, an auditor, or an incoming board needs.
• Oversee the managing agent, in writing - agreed service levels, regular reporting, and a record of instructions. The board remains responsible for everything the agent does on its behalf; see the ten questions every board should ask its agent.
• Communicate with leaseholders - budget notes, works notices, AGM packs. Most disputes start as surprises.
• Plan succession - keep records in a system the next board inherits, not in a retiring director's personal email.

The RMC director's year at a glance

1. Quarter 1 - approve accounts, file with Companies House, review insurance renewals, check compliance certificates due this year.
2. Quarter 2 - AGM season: present accounts, elect directors, consult on the coming year's works programme.
3. Quarter 3 - set next year's budget, review arrears, start Section 20 consultations for any winter works.
4. Quarter 4 - issue demands for the new year, confirmation statement housekeeping, agent performance review.

The exact months shift with your lease's service charge year - the point is that every duty above has a slot, an owner, and a written record.

What happens when it goes wrong

The common failure is not negligence - it is evaporation. A diligent director leaves, and the consultation notices, contractor quotes, and meeting minutes leave with them. The next board cannot prove a charge was reasonable, cannot show a consultation happened, and concedes at the First-tier Tribunal by default. Companies House strike-off for missed filings, invalid demands that stall cash flow, and uninsured compliance gaps follow the same pattern: the work was probably done; the record was not kept.

That is a tooling problem more than a people problem. Marklet gives RMC boards one workspace for the issue log, the service charge budget, Section 20 stages, compliance dates, and the email archive - so the company's memory belongs to the company. Free to start, and the next board inherits everything.