Notices and the timetable
The invitation to participate, the claim notice, the landlord's counter-notice and the acquisition date and the deadlines attached to each.
Law stated as at England and Wales
From here the process runs on statutory clocks. Miss one and the claim is usually lost not argued about, lost and you have to start again. Diary every date the day the notice goes out.
Notice of invitation to participate
Before the claim notice, the RTM company must give a notice of invitation to participate to every qualifying tenant who is not already a member. The claim notice cannot be given until at least 14 days after that.
The notice has prescribed contents. It has to state that the company intends to acquire the right to manage, invite the recipient to become a member, and tell them how to find out more. Companies that skip this step because “everyone already knows” hand the landlord a clean technical defence.
Keep proof of service for each one: who it went to, at what address, on what date, by what method.
The claim notice
The claim notice is the formal claim. It goes to the landlord, to any party to the leases other than the landlord and tenant (a management company named in the lease, typically), and to any manager appointed by the tribunal. Every member of the RTM company must be given a copy.
It must specify the premises, state the grounds on which the building qualifies, list the members and their flats, and set out two dates: the date by which a counter-notice may be given, and the proposed acquisition date.
Getting the addresses right matters. Serve on the landlord’s address as registered at HM Land Registry, and check the title again shortly before service freeholds change hands, and service on a former owner is not service.
The landlord’s counter-notice
The landlord has one month from the claim notice to give a counter-notice. There are two possibilities.
If the counter-notice admits the claim, or if no counter-notice arrives at all, the claim proceeds and the acquisition date stands.
If the counter-notice disputes the claim, it must say on what ground the company is not entitled that the floor area exceeds the limit, that the membership was short, that a notice was defective. At that point the claim stops unless the RTM company applies to the First-tier Tribunal within two months of the counter-notice for a determination that it was entitled to acquire the right. Miss those two months and the claim is treated as withdrawn.
Costs
Until 3 March 2025 an RTM company was liable for the landlord’s reasonable costs of dealing with the claim, which made a failed claim expensive and was used to deter leaseholders from trying. Section 50 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 changed that, so each party now normally bears its own costs, with limited exceptions where the tribunal decides otherwise.
If you are reading older guidance, articles or forum threads that warn about liability for the landlord’s legal bill, check the date on them.
The acquisition date
Where the claim is not disputed, the acquisition date must be at least three months after the deadline for the counter-notice. Where it is disputed and the tribunal decides in the company’s favour, the date runs from when that determination becomes final.
On that date the management functions under the leases transfer to the RTM company. The freeholder stays the freeholder and keeps the ground rent, the lease terms do not change, and forfeiture and consents to alterations remain with the landlord but repairs, maintenance, insurance obligations and service charges become the company’s job.
Three months feels generous and disappears quickly. Use it: appoint your agent or decide to self-manage, open the accounts, get quotes for the building’s insurance, and write to the current managing agent about handover.
Sources
- Right to Manage Leasehold Advisory ServiceOpen Government Licence v3.0
- Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, sections 78 to 90legislation.gov.uk Open Government Licence v3.0
- Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, section 50 costs of right to manage claimslegislation.gov.uk Open Government Licence v3.0
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. It has been summarised and re-written by Better Leasehold; any errors are ours. Reproduction here does not imply endorsement by the Leasehold Advisory Service or by any government department.