Have you considered your Right to Manage?

The Right to Manage is a useful legal mechanism for flat owners to take control of their building where it has previously been mismanaged. The special In Depth feature in Issue 47 will explore the Right to Manage procedure, the role of the surveyor, and, importantly, life after the Right to Manage has been acquired. Normally, it is the landlord’s obligation to manage the common parts of the building and a managing agent is customarily instructed to carry out this function. Since 2003, flat owners in residential buildings have had the right to change an underperforming managing agent through a no-fault process known as Right to Manage. Acquiring the Right to Manage gives the flat owners the right to select the managing agent of their choice. This is an attractive and potentially less expensive alternative to those leaseholders who cannot or do not want to purchase the freehold of the building (and acquire the management rights in that way). An important consideration in the Right to Manage process is for the fl at owners to decide how the building will be managed once the right to manage has been acquired. Thousands of flat owners around the country have benefited from taking control of their block, which is a testament to the popularity of the Right to Manage process. Now, some professional managing agents view Right to Manage as part of their marketing arsenal. Offers of consultation and advice to those blocks wanting to dislodge an out-of-favour manager are made in the hope of being instructed to manage the block once the Right to Manage has been successfully acquired.

5 Key Right to Manage facts