RMC Director Responsibilities: The Complete Checklist for Blocks in England and Wales

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 - for most small RMCs these are micro-entity accounts. Dormant accounts are a narrower option: a company is dormant only during a period in which it has no significant accounting transaction (Section 1169, Companies Act 2006), so an RMC that contracts with suppliers or collects ground rent in its own right will not qualify. Confirm the treatment with your accountant once, then repeat it.
• Verify your identity with Companies House - mandatory since November 2025. New directors verify on appointment; existing directors must supply their personal verification code with the company's next confirmation statement. An unverified director commits an offence by continuing to act.
• Keep the register of members up to date - Section 113, Companies Act 2006. The separate registers of directors and of people with significant control went on 18 November 2025, when Sections 161A to 167F and Chapter 3 of Part 21A of that Act were omitted by paragraphs 2(a) and 19 of Schedule 2 to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (SI 2025/1118). A change of director is notified to the registrar within 14 days instead, under Section 167G.
• 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. An ordinary private company has no statutory AGM duty: Section 336 of the Companies Act 2006 binds public companies and private traded companies only.

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 (Section 21B, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985). Sections 47 and 48 apply to a demand given to a tenant by the landlord, so they reach an RMC that is itself the landlord, for example because it owns the freehold; a tripartite RMC that is not the landlord falls outside them. Without the name and address the sum is treated as not due until the information is furnished by notice; without the summary the leaseholder can lawfully withhold payment.
• Hold service charge funds on trust - Section 42, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 creates a statutory trust; keep the money in a separate account in practice, not mixed with company or personal funds.
• 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 will introduce standardised annual reports and demand forms (the government has responded to consultation and expects the changes from 2027), 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 requirements (Section 20)

Section 20 imposes no duty to consult. It limits each leaseholder's contribution unless the consultation requirements are complied with, or dispensed with by the Tribunal under Section 20ZA. The consultation regulations are made per nation: SI 2003/1987 in England, SI 2004/684 in Wales.

• 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 in an accounting period 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 for works (£100 in an accounting period for long-term agreements), however good the works were, unless the Tribunal grants dispensation. 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. Since the Fire Safety Act 2021 the assessment must cover the building's structure, external walls and flat entrance doors in any block of two or more flats, whatever its height. For buildings over 11 metres, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add quarterly checks of communal fire doors and annual best-endeavours checks of flat entrance doors.
• Residential evacuation plans - the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025 came into force on 6 April 2026 and apply in England. They catch buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises that are at least 18 metres, or have at least seven storeys, or are more than 11 metres and operate a simultaneous evacuation strategy, so a mid-rise block outside the higher-risk regime can still be in scope. The duties sit with the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which for a self-managed block is usually the RMC, sometimes alongside a freeholder: use reasonable endeavours to identify residents whose ability to evacuate is compromised by a cognitive or physical impairment or condition, where the building is their only or principal home; offer each of them a person-centred fire risk assessment, and carry one out for any resident who asks; use reasonable endeavours to agree the evacuation approach with the resident and, where it is agreed, record it in an emergency evacuation statement and give them a copy; and share the prescribed information with the fire and rescue authority where the resident explicitly consents. The building itself needs an emergency evacuation plan, reviewed at least annually, with a copy in the building's secure information box if it has one.
• 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 in England and is higher-risk (at least 18 metres or at least seven storeys, with at least two residential units, under Section 65), the RMC may be an accountable person, and where it is the principal accountable person it carries the 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. Request access, and the next board inherits everything.