Management of housing estates

Leaseholders of flats who meet certain qualifying criteria currently have the right to take control of the management of their block of flats (the “Right to Manage”). Freeholders of houses on a housing estate have no equivalent right to take management of the estate. The project will consider the creation of a new right for freeholders on housing estates to take over the management of their estates.

Background (Back to top)

It has become common for housing estates to be built where the developer, or an associated management company, retains the roads and common areas of the estate. These estates may involve a mix of properties owned on a freehold and leasehold basis, and may also contain a mix of residential, business (such as shops) and other premises (such as open space intended for recreation). The houses are then sold on condition that the homeowners will pay a service charge to the developer or management company for their upkeep, and sometimes for the provision of other services.

We have been told that these management arrangements are sometimes designed to maximise profits for the management company, with homeowners being charged excessively. Under the current law, the residents on housing estates have some powers to challenge excessive fees but have no right to take over the management of their estates.

Project (Back to top)

This project will consider how residents could be given greater control over the management of their housing estates. The project will examine whether the right to manage (“RTM”) regime that benefits leaseholders in blocks of flats could be adapted to apply to housing estates. The RTM is a no-fault right, that can be exercised regardless of whether the landlord has breached any of their management obligations. The project will also consider whether any additional or alternative solutions to the problems of estate-management might be required as a consequence of the differences between blocks of flats and housing estates and of the different legal ownership structures involved.

We will review how any new scheme for the management of housing estates would interact with the current law governing the RTM in leasehold flats, and with the recommendations made by the Law Commission in our 2020 RTM Report.

This project forms part of the Law Commission’s 14th Programme of Law Reform.

The project is sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as part of its programme of work to address the problems faced on freehold estates (further details on the Department’s work can be found in the Housing Minister’s Written Ministerial Statement on 21 November 2024).

Terms of reference

The Law Commission and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have agreed Terms of Reference for the project.

In particular, the project will review and consider:

the creation of a no-fault right for freeholders of houses on a housing estate to take control of the management of their estate; and
modelling that new right, so far as is appropriate given the specific characteristics of housing estates, on the leasehold Right to Manage regime (as it would be if amended in line with the Commission’s recommendations in its 2020 Right to Manage report).