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Running a right to manage company

About running a right to manage company

In this guide

This guide is for leaseholders who are taking on the role of director of a right to manage company, or who want to know more about how a right to manage company should be run.

A right to manage company is a special type of company set up by leaseholders, to take over management of their building from the freeholder (landlord) under the right to manage.

For information on how to set up the company and take on the right to manage, see our guide to setting up the right to manage.

The company’s responsibilities

A right to manage company is responsible for the landlord’s management duties as set out in the lease.

These will usually include:

  • the day-to-day management of the building
  • repairs, redecoration and maintenance of the structure of the building and the common parts, including cyclical or seasonal maintenance
  • maintenance of plant and facilities, lifts and central heating boilers
  • improvements to the building (where this is included in the lease)
  • services to maintain common parts of the building, such as lighting, heating, cleaning, grounds maintenance, caretaking and porterage
  • warden services for retirement flats
  • arranging buildings insurance
  • charging and collecting service charges
  • accounting
  • providing information that the landlord has a legal duty to provide
  • meeting all legal requirements relating to the management and fabric of the building, including fire safety and building safety under the Building Safety Act 2022 – see our guide to fire safety for resident directors

The right to manage company is also responsible for:

  • dealing with breaches of the lease
  • granting approvals

How the company is run

The rules for how the right to manage company is run are in its articles of association.

A right to manage company must have standard articles of association, which are set out in legislation:

The articles of association cover:

  • the powers of the company
  • the liability of each member (limited to £1)
  • the powers and responsibilities of the directors
  • how directors make decisions
  • how to become a member
  • how meetings are organised
  • voting arrangements

Codes of practice

Right to manage companies should follow a government-approved code of practice:

It’s important to comply with one of these codes. Although compliance is not mandatory, failing to follow them is one of the grounds for an application to the tribunal to appoint a new manager or to end the right to manage.

Last updated:
16 December 2025
Next review:
16 December 2027

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