I Thought I Knew What Being an RMC Director Involved. I Was Wrong.

Even with that background, I was surprised by the reality.

A volunteer role with serious responsibility

What’s often underestimated is that being an RMC Director is usually a voluntary position, taken on alongside a full-time job, family life and everything else that comes with it.

Yet the responsibilities are significant — and growing.

An RMC Director is expected to understand, oversee or make decisions across a wide range of areas, including:

• Company director duties and Companies House obligations

• Service charge budgets, accounting and financial controls

• Health & safety responsibilities

• Fire safety and building safety compliance

• The Building Safety Act and Fire Safety Act

• Risk assessments, inspections and reporting

• Oversight and challenge of managing agents

• Contractor procurement and performance

• Resident communication and expectation management

• Lease interpretation and legal considerations

All of this comes with real accountability, and in some cases, personal liability.

For many directors, this knowledge isn’t built up over a career. It’s acquired piecemeal, often under pressure, and usually without formal training.

Regulation hasn’t simplified the role — it’s expanded it

Over the past few years, the regulatory landscape has changed significantly. The Building Safety Act, the Fire Safety Act, and related guidance have increased scrutiny, accountability and documentation requirements — all for the right reasons, but with very real implications for those responsible.

The role hasn’t just become more time-consuming; it’s become more complex. Without a clear way of breaking down what needs attention, when, and why, it’s easy for directors to feel exposed or unsure whether they’re meeting their obligations.

I’ve felt that pressure myself, even with years of experience behind me.

Experience helps, but it doesn’t remove the challenge

Working in the sector gives you context, but it doesn’t automatically give you clarity.

What surprised me most was how often I still had to stop and ask myself: Am I focusing on the right thing here? Is this my responsibility, or someone else’s? And what’s the real risk if this isn’t handled properly?

Even with a background, the pace of regulatory change means you’re constantly recalibrating. Guidance evolves. Expectations shift. And as an RMC Director, often acting in a voluntary capacity, keeping up can start to feel relentless.

That’s not because directors aren’t capable. It’s because the role has quietly become far more demanding than many people realise.

The hardest part isn’t the workload — it’s the uncertainty

Over time, what that pressure creates is uncertainty about where to focus.

It isn’t usually the volume of work that feels overwhelming. It’s the grey areas — not always knowing what genuinely needs your attention as a director, what needs regular oversight rather than day-to-day involvement, and what should properly sit elsewhere.

I’ve often found myself asking:

• What absolutely must be done?

• What needs ongoing oversight rather than day-to-day involvement?

• What can reasonably be delegated, and what can’t?

• And where does my responsibility as a director really begin and end?

When you don’t have clear answers to those questions, it’s very easy to start second-guessing yourself. And that’s not a comfortable position to be in when you’re accountable for people’s homes and safety.

Turning experience into practical support

Those questions, and that uncertainty, are exactly what have shaped how I now think about support for RMC Directors.

Through my own experience of the role, and through working alongside RMC Directors more broadly, it has become clear how much difference it makes when responsibilities are broken down into clear, manageable, real-world steps, rather than dense guidance or legal jargon.

The aim is not to turn volunteer directors into compliance specialists. It is to help them:

• Understand what is expected of them, and why

• Know where their role begins and ends

• Feel confident asking the right questions

• Make informed decisions without carrying unnecessary anxiety

In truth, it is the kind of clarity and reassurance I wish had been more readily available when I first took on the role myself.

You do not have to figure it out alone

Being an RMC Director is important work. It carries real responsibility, and it deserves proper support.

If you stepped into the role believing your professional background would be enough, only to discover how much sits behind it, you are not alone. Many capable directors find themselves navigating the same uncertainty.

With the right structure, guidance and reassurance, the role becomes not only more manageable, but far more rewarding too.

Fran Giles is Director of Business Services at Innovus, where she works with Resident Management Companies, delivering director training and outsourced support focused on governance, accountability and practical decision-making