The process for making a claim to exercise a Right To Manage begins with the service of a Notice of Claim on the landlord. No grounds for making the application need to be stated and there is no requirement for approval by a court.

1. The Notice of Claim must be served on:
2. The landlord of the building.
3. Any intermediate Landlords (owners of any Head Leaseholds).
4. Each qualifying tenant in the building.
5. Any other parties to the lease other than the actual leaseholders (for example, a management company named in a lease).
6. Any  manager that may have been appointed by a court or tribunal (a copy of the notice must also be sent to the relevant court or tribunal).

Notice of Claim

The Notice of Claim is the first stage of acquiring a Right To Manage. The Notice of Claim also sets the date on which the Right To Manage company will begin their management of the building (‘the Acquisition Date’).

The legislation stipulates a minimum period of three months (four months if  the one month period for a counter notice is included) from the service of the Notice of Claim for the whole process of claiming a Right To Manage.

The Notice of Claim must be in writing and in a prescribed form. The following must be set out within the Notice:

1. The premises for which the Right To Manage is being claimed.
2. A statement setting out  the grounds on which the premises qualifies for Right To Manage
3. The full names and addresses of each of the qualifying tenants who are members of the Right To Manage together with full details of their lease term (i.e. when the lease was granted, when it commenced and the length of the term).
4.  A date (not within one month from the date the notice is served) by which each person served with the notice can serve a counter-notice (‘the Determination Date’).
5. Specify a date, a minimum of three months from the date of the service of the Notice of Claim, when the Right To Manage intends to acquire the right to manage the building (‘the Acquisition Date’).
6. A statement addressed to the landlord that he may inform the Right To Manage company of any inaccuracies that may be in the notice.
7. A reminder to the landlord that if he has no objection to the Right To Manage to serve the ‘contract’ notice (a notice to be served on the Right To Manage providing them with details of any existing contracts and contractors) and ‘contractor ‘ notice (a notice to be served on any contractors employed in the maintenance of the building informing them of the Right To Manage)  and that the Landlord can be a member of the Right To Manage company.

Absent Landlord-

The absence of the landlord need not be an obstacle to obtaining a Right To Manage. If the landlord or any of the parties on whom a Notice of Claim needs to be served, cannot be found, an application may be made to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (‘LVT’) for an order granting the Right To Manage company the Right To Manage.

In such circumstances, the Right To Manage company informed all the qualifying leaseholders in the building of the fact that they are making an application to the LVT. The LVT may require the Right To Manage company to make further efforts to find the landlord. 

Counter Notice

Once the Notice of Claim has been served on the landlord, the landlord may serve a counter-notice, though no later than the Determination Date stated within the Notice of Claim. In the counter-notice the landlord may either accept the Right To Manage or oppose it.

The counter-notice must be in prescribed form and contain one of two statements:

• Agreeing that the Right To Manage company is entitled to acquire the Right To Manage; or in the alternative,
• Opposing the right of the Right To Manage company to acquire the Right To Manage

If the landlord opposes the Right To Manage company’s Right To Manage, their objection is limited to the following grounds:

1. The building does not meet the criteria required to qualify for a Right To Manage
2. The Right To Manage company  does not meet the legislative requirements for Right To Manage companies.
3. There are less than 50% of the qualifying leaseholders represented by the Right To Manage company.

Where the landlord alleges that the building does not qualify he must, in the counter notice specify that the Right To Manage company can make an application to the LVT and that the Right To Manage company will not be allowed to acquire the Right To Manage without a ruling in their favour by the LVT. Such application must be made within two months of the service of the counter-notice. 

The Right To Manage company must compensate the landlord for any costs incurred by him in the process involved in the Right To Manage company’s exercise of the Right To Manage whether or not the Right To Manage is actually acquired.

Duty to Provide Information Notice.

Once the Right To Manage has been acquired, the landlord has a statutory obligation to provide the Right To Manage company with whatever information, documents or records ‘reasonably required in connection with the exercise of the right to manage’.  It should be noted, however, that the landlord is not required to volunteer information, so it is important that the Right To Manage are clear about the information and documents they require to exercise the Right To Manage.  A ‘Duty to Provide Information’ Notice requiring such information can be served on the landlord at any time, although the landlord must respond within 28 days of the service of the notice, he is not required to comply with it until after the Acquisition Date.

Things to Consider When Taking Over the Management of the Building

1. Because the Leaseholders will be managing the building through a Right To Manage company, it is important to learn more about company procedures as any leaseholder who is a director of the company will be legally liable should there be a breach in company law in the way that a company is run, a common example, is failure to file accounts and company house returns within the time periods required by law.
2. Officers of the company (directors, company secretary) will have to be elected from the leaseholders who have formed the Right To Manage company. This is an on-going responsibility and not just a short term appointment.  
3. The company and its directors will be legally responsible for ensuring compliance with a wide range of company, housing and health and safety law.
4. The Leaseholders forming the Right To Manage Company need to be realistic about their expectations. They need to be clear about the fact that the Right To Manage is a separate legal entity to the individual leaseholders and this may cause conflict when there are for example, arrears of service charge and disputes between neighbouring  leaseholders.
5. Regular meetings will need to be held and at the very least, an Annual General Meeting of the Right To Manage Company.
6. There will need to be mechanisms for the overseeing the budgets and accounts as well as the companies legal requirements.
7. Where the management of the building involves the employment of staff, for example, porters and maintenance staff, the Right To Manage company will need to be aware of the