How to choose the best Right to Manage software
The right tool depends on how your RTM company is run. This guide compares the four kinds of tool directors use, sets out eight questions to ask of any of them, and says plainly where Marklet fits and where it does not.
The four kinds of tool
Most RTM companies use one of these, or a mix. Each suits some boards better than others.
Spreadsheets and a shared drive
Suits: A small block with one director who keeps the files up to date, and little or no major works on the horizon.
Watch for: Version history can show who edited a file, but not why a decision was made, and files tend to live in one person's account. When that director steps down, check the company still holds everything.
Your managing agent's own system
Suits: A company that has appointed an agent to run the building day to day and is content to see what the agent's portal shows.
Watch for: Ask what the company receives, and in what form, if the agent changes.
Accounting-led block management systems
Suits: Managing agents and larger self-managed companies that keep full service charge accounts, often for many blocks.
Watch for: Check the price and the features against what a board of volunteer directors will actually use.
Software kept by the company itself
Suits: Directors who want the company's own record of issues, emails, documents and decisions, whether they self-manage or appoint an agent.
Watch for: Check it covers what your company actually does: service charge accounts and Section 20 if you self-manage, oversight of the agent's work if you do not.
Eight questions to ask of any RTM software
Put them to every supplier, Marklet included, before the board commits the company's money.
- 1
The record belongs to the company
Directors change. The issues, emails, documents and decisions should stay with the RTM company and leave with it as one export, not sit in a former director's inbox.
- 2
An audit trail of who did what
When a leaseholder or the tribunal asks why a cost was incurred, you need the decision, the date and the person who made it.
- 3
Service charges line by line
Budget against actual for every line, and the invoices behind each one, so a query can be answered from the record.
- 4
Section 20 as a statutory process
Major works consultation has fixed stages and notice periods. A tool should track them as such, and keep a plain vote of members apart from it.
- 5
Works with or without an agent
Some RTM companies self-manage, others appoint an agent. The same record should serve the directors either way, with the agent invited in rather than replaced.
- 6
Access by role
Directors, leaseholders and the agent need different views. Leaseholders should see what concerns them without being able to change a figure.
- 7
Where the data is held
Leaseholders' names, flats and correspondence are personal data. Ask where the database and files are stored.
- 8
A way to start free
A free plan lets a new board try the tool on its real building before committing the company's money.
Where Marklet fits
- RTM and RMC directors in England and Wales who want the company to hold its own record
- Boards that self-manage, and boards that appoint a managing agent and invite them into the same workspace
- Blocks of up to 10 units in total on the free plan, and larger blocks on paid plans priced per unit
Where it does not
- Marklet is software, not a managing agent. It does not run the building for you.
- Marklet does not hold service charge money. It records demands and payments.
- Section 20 tracking, demands and the accounting integrations are on the Management plan, not the free or Oversight plans.
What the company takes on after acquisition, and where Marklet keeps each record, is on the RTM companies page. Plans and per-unit prices are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best right to manage software?
There is no single best tool, because RTM companies are run in different ways. A self-managed block needs service charge accounts, Section 20 and contractor records; a company with a managing agent mainly needs oversight of the agent's work and a record of its own decisions. Use the eight questions on this page to compare the tools you are considering, Marklet included.
Is there free software for RTM companies?
Marklet is free for blocks of up to 10 units in total, with issue tracking, the most recent six months of email history and an audit trail. Spreadsheets and a shared drive cost nothing, but do not by themselves record the reasons for decisions.
Do we need software if we have a managing agent?
Not necessarily. The RTM company remains responsible for the management functions it acquired, so directors need to be able to see what has been done in the company's name. Some boards rely on the agent's portal; others keep their own record alongside it.
Can we change software later?
Ask before you start. A tool should let the company take its records with it in a usable form. Marklet's data export produces a handover pack of the estate's documents, compliance history and audit trail.
New to the process? Read the Right to Manage guide or check whether your building qualifies.
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