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Court of Appeal confirms that it is not possible to claim the right to manage over multiple properties

In the recent case of Triplerose Ltd v Ninety Broomfield Road RTM Co Ltd (“Triplerose”), the Court of Appeal held that a single right to manage (RTM) company cannot exercise its right to manage over more than one set of premises.

The right to manage is set out in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (“the 2002 Act”). Provided that tenants of a self-contained building (or part of a building) satisfy the qualifying criteria, they are entitled to form a RTM company and take over the landlord’s management functions regardless of whether the landlord’s management has been good or poor.

Triplerose consisted of three separate cases, with each case involving a single RTM company serving separate claim notices in relation to separate buildings. In each case, the buildings in question were managed by the existing landlords as a single estate. The question to be decided by the Court of Appeal was whether a single RTM company could exercise the right to manage over more than one self- contained building (or part of a building).

The Court of Appeal held that the 2002 Act did not provide for a right to manage multiple premises. In deciding this, the Court considered sections 72 and 74 of the 2002 Act. Section 72 provides that the right to manage applies to premises which consist of a self contained building (or part of a building) and section 74 provides that only qualifying tenants and relevant landlords of the premises are entitled to be members of the RTM company. As there was nothing in the 2002 Act (or the RTM Companies (Model Articles) (England) Regulations 2009) to deal with a more complex membership structure of RTM companies, the Court held that RTM companies are not entitled to exercise the right to manage over multiple premises.

As this decision overturned an earlier Upper Tribunal decision, it is important to consider its impact on ongoing right to manage claims.