What is the difference between a freeholder, a managing agent and an RTM company?
They occupy different positions: one owns, one is employed, and one is a vehicle leaseholders create to take control. Confusing them is why complaints frequently go to the wrong place.
Freeholder (landlord or lessor). Owns the building and the land. Grants the leases, receives any ground rent, and holds the legal obligations set out in the lease — typically to insure, maintain the structure and common parts, and enforce the leases. They may do this themselves or delegate it.
Managing agent. A company appointed and paid to carry out day-to-day management: collecting service charges, arranging repairs and maintenance, instructing contractors, keeping accounts, and handling correspondence.
The key point: the managing agent works for whoever appointed them — usually the freeholder, sometimes an RTM company or a residents' management company. They have no independent authority. They can also be replaced, which is frequently the actual remedy people are looking for.
Residents' management company (RMC). Set up under the lease from the outset, with leaseholders as members, holding the management obligations directly. Common in newer developments.
Right to Manage (RTM) company. A company leaseholders form to take over management from the freeholder, using a statutory right. Crucially, no fault needs to be proved — you do not have to demonstrate the freeholder has done anything wrong, which is what makes the route usable.
What RTM gives you: control of management, choice of managing agent, and control over service charge budgets and works.
What it does not: ownership of the freehold, the ground rent, or the right to grant lease extensions. Those require collective enfranchisement, which is a different and more expensive process.
Qualifying conditions apply — relating to the building, the proportion of flats held on long leases, and the proportion of non-residential floor space — and the procedure is formal, with notices that must be correct. The 2024 Act altered some qualifying criteria, so check the current rules.
Where to complain: service charge disputes and management failings generally go to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), and managing agents belong to redress schemes.
General information, not legal advice.