If the behaviour amounts to intimidation, harassment, violence, or abuse, you should report this to the police. If the behaviour is less serious then you have the following options: removal of the director, suing for breach of lease, mediation, appointment of a manager, or right to manage.
If you would like to remove the director, then start by checking the articles of association of the company. If the director has breached the conduct obligations, then the articles should show how the director can be removed. Usually, a director may be removed from office by ordinary resolution of the members passed at a general meeting. It is possible for resolutions to be proposed by members, to appoint and remove directors. The members of a company may require the directors of that company to call a general meeting. The relevant members must serve special notice on the company of any resolution to remove a director. This must be given to the company at least 28 days before the meeting at which the resolution will be moved. The director might seek to obstruct your intention to remove them; having received the 28-day notice of the meeting, they might call a meeting within that 28-day period. However, the Act makes provision for this. The special notice to the company of the resolution to remove the director is effective even if the full 28-day period has not elapsed.
If the director has caused the company to breach your lease, for example through bad management of the building, the leaseholders could sue the company for breach of lease. However, this would be an extreme action and could prove to be expensive for the leaseholders and wipe out all existing funds presently held by the company.
As an alternative approach, you may wish to consider mediation. This is a low-cost alternative to litigation.
You could also consider appointment of a manager. This allows an individual leaseholder to apply to the relevant tribunal to ask it to appoint an independent person to step in and take over the management.
Lastly, the leaseholders could exercise the right to manage and start from nothing. You would appoint a board of new directors and on the acquisition date – 2-3 months after serving the initial notice on the company – your new right to manage company will acquire all the management functions.
More information you might find useful:
- I am the leaseholder of a flat. Can I and the other leaseholders exercise the right to manage (RTM)?
- What is the appointment of a manager?
- Application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
- More Frequently Asked Questions on Appointment of a Manager
- More Frequently Asked Questions on management of a building
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