Centenary Mill and Dale Street Right to Manage Process

Taking the right approach to Right to Manage

• In partnership with urbanbubble, property owners can benefit from:

• Acquisition of Right to Manage in 6 – 9 months 
• Expert assistance negotiating a complex legal process
• Help and support getting leaseholders on board

The full story:
If you’re a leaseholder who is unhappy with the way your residential block is being managed by the freeholder, the Right to Manage process gives you the opportunity to take over the management of your block.

It gives leaseholders the statutory right to take over the management of their development from the landlord by setting up a special company – a right to manage company.

You don’t have to get the landlord’s permission, prove any mismanagement or obtain any court order to exercise the right. However, it comes with responsibilities and the qualifying rules and criteria can be complex to negotiate.

The problem
Leaseholders at two of our recent Right to Manage clients, Centenary Mill and Dale Street, shared similar problems when they approached us in 2012 for help in acquiring their Right to Manage.

They were frustrated by the lack of action being taken by their landlord in tackling problems affecting their city centre buildings, which had been managed by the freeholder since being developed into apartments.

Costs quoted for standard maintenance and upkeep were prohibitively high, communication was virtually non-existent and they felt that they were being taken advantage of as they had no choice or right to reply in the matter. 

The solution
The solution was simple for leaseholders at both developments; acquire Right to Manage and take over the management of the building themselves.

RTM: The Right to Manage lets some leasehold property owners take over management of the building – even without the agreement of the landlord and empowers them to take control of the day-to-day things that affect the building in which they own a property, such as cleaning, maintenance and upkeep of their building.

In its simplest form, RTM means that leaseholders can choose who to appoint as a managing agent to take care of these day-to-day responsibilities, and is often the first step in making a change.

It’s sometimes a tricky legislative process that takes an average of five months to complete. To the beginner, it can be a daunting process. 

Here’s how they did it
For both Centenary Mill and Dale Street, urbanbubble began by canvassing leaseholders to ensure that the legally necessary 50% of each block were happy to acquire Right to Manage. Often more difficult than it appears, this part of the job can be difficult for leaseholders to take on, with hard-to-contact non-resident landlords making the job a lot more than a matter of simply knocking on neighbours’ doors. urbanbubble used their excellent contacts within the local letting agent network to quickly contact these landlords and bring them onside.

With the required number of leaseholders on board, the next stage was to help the leaseholders acquire the RTM. This included negotiating the legal process and ensuring that the many stages of the process, from forming the RTM company through to planning and budgeting and issuing the Notice of Claim, had been successfully completed. 

There are many steps involved in the process, and with the right guidance these can be completed correctly and with minimum hassle. 

Knowledge is power
With all the necessary legalities carried out, the leaseholders at both developments acquire their RTM in August 2014 and will be free to choose which managing agent to appoint to look after their development. Both RTM’s are over 200 units each making it, collectively, one of the largest RTM processes conducted in the UK to date.

Following a successful RTM, urbanbubble has been appointed as managing agent; a role they know a bit about and can begin saving residents money with their transparent and open approach to maintenance, upkeep and repairs. 

The urbanbubble benefit
It’s crucial to get Right to Manage application just right. With many steps to be completed and carried out to the precise letter of the law, applications can easily be contested by the Landlord in whose interest it may be to stay in control of the property management.

Expert help can ensure that RTM is acquired quickly and with minimal work from leaseholders who have better things to do than take on this difficult task. Whilst urbanbubble applied the full breadth of  their expertise to help push through the RTM for leaseholders at both Centenary Mill and Dale Street, the agreement meant there was absolutely no obligation to appoint them as managing agent at the end of the process. 

And with a low charge per unit and no obligation to appoint urbanbubble at the end of the process, it’s a process that just got easier to manage.

“It was good to have expert guide to help us through the RTM process”
Centenary Mill apartment owner  

“urbanbubble helped us through a difficult process with no obligation at all to use them at the end”                    

Dale Street RMC Chair