Right to manage lets the leaseholders of a block take over its management from the freeholder without proving any fault. The building needs at least two flats, two thirds of them on long leases and no more than half its floor area in commercial use, and at least half the flats must join the RTM company. In Essex, the leaseholders won nine of the ten right to manage cases the tribunal has decided since 2019; the one they lost, in Colchester in 2022, gave too early a date for taking over. Uncontested, the notices take about four months; the contested Essex claims took seven to fifteen months to a decision.
Where a freeholder manages a block badly, the leaseholders can take the management over under Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. They do not have to prove fault and they do not buy the freehold. The freeholder keeps the building; the right to manage (RTM) company takes over the management.
01Does your building qualify?
- At least two flats, and at least two thirds of the flats let on long leases.
- No more than 50% of the internal floor area in non-residential use, such as shops. The limit was 25% until 3 March 2025.
- At least half of the flats must take part through the RTM company.
Free for Essex blocks: answer a few questions about your building and we email you a right to manage pack made for it, with the eligibility check, your timetable and both statutory notices filled in as drafts. It costs nothing and you owe us nothing for using it.
02The steps
- Form the RTM company with the prescribed articles.
- Serve a notice inviting participation on every qualifying leaseholder who is not yet a member.
- Serve the claim notice on the freeholder, which sets the date the right will be acquired.
- Handover. The freeholder can serve a counter-notice; if it does not dispute the claim, management passes on the acquisition date, with the service charge funds.
Since 3 March 2025 each side generally pays its own costs on a claim, so the RTM company no longer has to cover the freeholder's legal costs in most cases.
03Right to manage in Essex: the tribunal record
When a freeholder disputes a claim, the RTM company asks the First-tier Tribunal to decide. We read every published decision on an Essex building since 2019. There are ten decisions, covering eleven buildings. In nine the leaseholders won. In one they lost.
| Building | What the freeholder objected to | What the tribunal decided |
|---|---|---|
| 135 York Road, Southend CAM/00KF/LRM/2025/0013, 2026 | The company's articles had not been updated for the March 2025 change to the model articles. | Won. An RTM company only has to be a company limited by guarantee whose object is right to manage. Fee refunded. |
| Little Docklands, Wharf Road, Chelmsford CAM/22UF/LRM/2025/0014, 2026 | The claim notice named the wrong owner for one flat, and a member was missing from the register. | Won. A wrong detail in a claim notice does not invalidate it. |
| 1307-1321 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea CAM/00KF/LRM/2025/0011, 2026 | An objection emailed by a buyer not yet registered as the freeholder. | Not a valid counter-notice, so the right passed automatically on 19 October 2025. |
| Wickham House, Northgate Street, Colchester CAM/22UG/LRM/2025/0002, 2025 | A company owning one flat was not invited to join; the notice periods. | Won. Fee refunded. |
| 82-84 High Street, Hadleigh CAM/22UE/LRM/2023/0018, 2024 | Not a self-contained building. | Won. Fee refunded. |
| 80 High Street, Hadleigh CAM/22UE/LRM/2023/0007, 2024 | Three flats. One owner had died and his executor was not served separately. | Won. Fee refunded. |
| 21-25 Eaglegate, East Hill, Colchester CAM/22UG/LRM/2022/0003, 2022 | Disputed by counter-notice. | Won. A claim for £10,259.20 of costs against the freeholder was refused. |
| St Marys House, Church Walk, Colchester CAM/22UN/LCP/2022/0002, 2022 | The date for taking over, in the claim notice, was too early. | Lost. The RTM company then paid £2,438.22 of the freeholder's costs. |
| Darkhouse Lane, Rowhedge (two blocks) CAM/22UG/LRM/2021/0004, 2022 | Membership of the companies, and whether each block was a self-contained part. | Both won. Fees refunded. |
| Manor View, Chigwell CAM/22UH/LRM/2019/0001, 2020 | Six flats, one owned by the freeholder's director. Who was invited to join. | Won. |
From decisions of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), Eastern region, published on GOV.UK. Search a case reference there to read the decision in full. A claim only reaches the tribunal when the freeholder disputes it, so these are the contested ones.
04What the Essex cases show
- Nobody argued about how well the building was run. The law does not ask, so every objection was about paperwork: who was invited to join, whether an owner was named correctly, the company's articles, whether the building stands on its own.
- Small mistakes rarely sink a claim. Little Docklands named the wrong owner for one flat and still won, because an inaccurate detail in a claim notice does not make it invalid.
- A wrong date can. St Marys House in Colchester lost in 2022 because the date it gave for taking over was too early. It must be at least three months after the freeholder's deadline to reply. Under the costs rule then in force, the leaseholders also paid the freeholder's costs.
- Serve the freeholder on the register. At London Road in Leigh-on-Sea the only objection came by email from a company that had not yet been registered as the freeholder. It did not count, and the leaseholders took over on the date in their notice.
- The 2025 changes are not a trap. 135 York Road, a Victorian house of six flats in Southend, formed its company in June 2025 on the older articles and still won.
- A contested claim takes longer. From claim notice to decision took between seven months (Little Docklands) and fifteen (82-84 High Street, Hadleigh), and management then passes three months after the decision is final. Uncontested, the notices take about four months at the shortest.
05Right to manage across Essex
Right to manage is far more common in Southend than anywhere else in the county. Of the residents' companies we can place in Southend, Westcliff, Leigh and Shoeburyness from their directors' home addresses at Companies House, about three in ten are right to manage companies. In Chelmsford and Colchester it is fewer than one in ten, and across Essex about one in eight.
Southend also has the county's largest stock of houses split into flats: 10,249 households lived in one at the 2021 census, more than the other thirteen Essex councils put together. Two of the ten decisions above were on Southend and Leigh buildings, and two more in Hadleigh, next door.
06After you acquire the right
The RTM company takes on the management obligations under the leases: repairs, insurance, the service charge, and compliance, including fire safety. Most RTM companies appoint a managing agent to do the work for the directors. We manage RTM buildings on the same published fees as any block, from £240 a flat a year, and the handover checklist we send is the one we would use with your freeholder's agent.
07Questions
What is an RTM company?
A company formed by the leaseholders of a block to take over its management from the freeholder under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
Does right to manage mean we own the freehold?
No. The freeholder keeps the freehold; the RTM company takes over the management.
Who provides RTM management in Essex?
Essex Block Management, a RICS regulated managing agent based in Chelmsford, manages right to manage companies across Essex at a published fee of £240 a flat a year plus VAT. The directors keep control; we run the building for them, with a named manager, four site visits a year and the service charge held in a client account in the building's own name.
How many leaseholders need to agree to right to manage?
At least half of the flats in the building must be members of the RTM company when the claim notice is served. In a building with only two flats, both must take part.
How much does right to manage cost?
Mostly the cost of forming the RTM company and serving the notices. Since 3 March 2025 each side generally pays its own costs, so in most cases the leaseholders no longer have to pay the freeholder's legal costs. Our right to manage pack for Essex blocks is free.
Who manages the block after right to manage?
The RTM company does, through its directors. Most appoint a managing agent to run the day to day: the service charge, repairs, insurance and fire safety, while the board keeps the decisions.
How do you set up an RTM company?
Register a private company limited by guarantee at Companies House using the prescribed articles of association for RTM companies, with a name ending "RTM Company Limited". Its members are the qualifying leaseholders who join. Our free pack walks through it for your building.
Can an RTM company buy the freehold?
Not as an RTM company. Buying the freehold is a separate right, collective enfranchisement, usually done through a different company formed for the purpose. Many blocks take over management first and buy the freehold later.
Is right to manage worth it?
Usually, where the freeholder's management is poor or expensive and enough leaseholders will take part. The board gains control of the agent, the budget and the contractors, in return for the work and responsibility of running a company. A managing agent can carry most of the work.
How long does right to manage take?
About four months at the shortest if the freeholder does not dispute it: the claim notice must give at least a month to reply, and the takeover date must be at least three months after that. If it is disputed, the Essex claims decided since 2019 took between seven and fifteen months from claim notice to the tribunal's decision, and management passed three months after the decision became final.
Can the freeholder stop right to manage?
Only by showing the claim does not meet the rules, and in Essex they rarely manage it. Of the ten Essex right to manage cases the tribunal has decided since 2019, the leaseholders won nine. The one they lost, at St Marys House in Colchester in 2022, gave a takeover date that was too early.
Does right to manage work in Southend?
Yes, and it is more common there than anywhere else in Essex: about three in ten of the residents' companies we can place in Southend, Westcliff, Leigh and Shoeburyness are right to manage companies. In 2026 the leaseholders of 135 York Road and of 1307-1321 London Road in Leigh-on-Sea both took over management after their freeholders' objections failed.
What do freeholders object to in a right to manage claim?
Paperwork, not the quality of management. In the Essex cases the objections were about who was invited to join the RTM company, whether an owner was named correctly, the company's articles, and whether the building was self-contained. In nine of the ten, the objection failed.
08Guides for directors
- Service charge estimate
- RICS regulated block managers in Essex
- The reserve fund
- Service charge arrears
- Service charge accounts
- Directors' duties in an RMC
- How to choose a managing agent
- A free service charge check
- Service charges explained
- Buildings insurance for blocks
- Fire safety in blocks of flats
- The Directors' Library
- What is block management?
- How to change managing agent
- Residents' management companies
- Block management fees
- Section 20 major works
- Service charge disputes
- New-build estate fees
- Estate management in Essex