Life after the managing agent: a first-year playbook for new RTM directors

Acquisition day — the date your RTM company formally takes over management — is one of the best days in a self-management journey. After months of organising, form-filling, and waiting, you are finally in control.

And then reality lands.

There is a handover to chase. Contracts to review. Insurance to arrange. A bank account to open. A budget to set. Companies House obligations to meet. And all of it is happening while you are still a full-time professional, a parent, a human being with a limited number of hours in the day.

This playbook is designed to make year one manageable. It is not exhaustive, but it covers every major task in roughly the order you will encounter it, so you know what is coming and can prepare.

Before acquisition day: the handover checklist

Your acquisition date is at least three months after the counter-notice deadline (longer if your claim was disputed). Use that time to request the handover pack from the outgoing agent in writing, as early as possible.

A complete handover should include:

• All tenant information — names, unit addresses, notice addresses, any tenancy details for sub-let flats
• The leases (or a complete lease summary covering all units)
• The service charge accounts for the last three years (at minimum) and the current year's income and expenditure to date
• The trust account balance — the service charge funds held for leaseholders, which must be transferred to the RTM company's designated account. Under Section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, these funds are held on a statutory trust for the leaseholders; they belong to the leaseholders, not the agent
• All insurance documents — the current policy schedule, the insurer's contact details, and any active claims
• Compliance certificates — fire risk assessment, EICR (electrical installation condition report), gas safety certificate (if applicable), asbestos register, lift inspection certificates, legionella assessment
• Supplier contracts and warranties — cleaning, gardening, lift maintenance, door entry, fire alarm system, communal boiler service
• Keys and access equipment — all sets of keys to common areas, remote fobs, key safe codes, lift access cards
• Any pending works or quotations in progress
• Correspondence files — any significant recent exchanges with leaseholders, contractors, or the freeholder

In practice, agents vary enormously in how cooperatively they hand over. Some are professional and prompt. Others are slow, incomplete, or obstructive. If you encounter resistance, your solicitor can write formally requiring delivery of the information; the outgoing agent has legal obligations to hand over records.

Document every item you receive and every item that is missing. A simple spreadsheet is enough.

Month one: the essentials

Open the bank account. Your RTM company needs a designated business bank account — ideally two: one for the operational service charge float, one for the reserve fund. These should be in the RTM company's name, separate from any personal accounts and from any account held by Reeve or any software provider. Service charge funds sit in the block's own trust account; that is the legal requirement and the principle.

Transfer the service charge balance. Chase the outgoing agent until the trust account balance is transferred to your new account. Get written confirmation of the amount transferred and the date. Do not start spending from the account until you have reconciled what you have received against the last set of accounts.

Sort the insurance. Do not let the insurance lapse. Arrange a buildings insurance renewal — or confirm that the policy mid-term assignment has been completed, if the existing policy can be transferred to the RTM company. Buildings insurance is non-negotiable for a block of flats; being uninsured even briefly is an unacceptable risk.

Notify key parties. Write to all leaseholders confirming that management has transferred to the RTM company and providing the new contact details and bank account for service charge payments. Also notify the freeholder (if there is one), any mortgagees or managing agents of individual units if appropriate, and the local fire authority if your building has a registered fire risk assessment.

Months one and two: setting up the infrastructure

Register with Companies House formalities. Your RTM company was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee before the claim notice was served, so it already has a company number. But now it is actively managing a block, you need to make sure your Companies House obligations are calendared:

• The confirmation statement (formerly annual return) must be filed once a year.
• Annual accounts must be filed within nine months of your accounting reference date.
• The register of members must be maintained and updated as leaseholders join, leave, or change.
• Director changes must be notified to Companies House promptly.

These are legal obligations under the Companies Act 2006 and they are easy to miss when you are busy managing a building. Put them in a calendar with reminders.

Review the supplier contracts you have inherited. Some may be running, at acceptable rates, with good contractors. Others may be overpriced, expired, or with contractors who were unresponsive under the old agent. Prioritise reviewing any contract coming up for renewal, and any service where you have immediate concerns about quality.

For any long-term agreement (12 months or more) that will cost an individual leaseholder more than £100 a year, and any works that will cost an individual leaseholder more than £250, you will need to follow the Section 20 consultation process before entering new contracts. This is a legal requirement, not a best-practice suggestion; failure to comply caps your recovery to those thresholds.

Establish a compliance calendar. Map out every compliance obligation and its next due date. Fire risk assessment review. EICR. Lift inspection (LOLER). Legionella assessment. Gas safety. These obligations are your responsibility now — not the agent's. A missed compliance deadline is not just an administrative embarrassment; in some cases it is a criminal matter.

Month two or three: the first budget and demands

Read our separate guide on building a service charge budget for the full detail. In summary:

• List every cost line, estimate each with real quotes where possible, apportion by the lease schedule, build in a contingency and a reserve contribution.
• Communicate the draft budget to residents before issuing formal demands.
• Issue compliant demands — in writing, accompanied by the prescribed summary of leaseholders' rights and obligations.
• Get all costs demanded within 18 months of being incurred (the Section 20B rule).

Setting a realistic first budget, with an honest reserve fund contribution, is one of the most important things you will do. If the block has been under-budgeted by the previous agent — as is common when agents cut their management fee by keeping the service charge artificially low — you may need to increase the budget, which is not a comfortable conversation but is necessary.

Months three to six: building the shared record

One of the most significant risks in self-managed blocks is knowledge sitting in one person's head. If the director who knows the boiler maintenance history moves away, or who the preferred electrician is, or when the insurance renews — and there is no written record — the block loses institutional memory it cannot easily recover.

Start building the shared record early:

• A document repository accessible to all directors (and, ideally, to residents for the items they are entitled to see), including all compliance certificates, contracts, the lease summary, and the accounts.
• A supplier contacts list with the contractor name, contact details, what they cover, contract renewal date, and any notes on performance.
• A decisions log recording material decisions the board takes — why you chose a particular contractor, why you set a particular reserve contribution, how you handled a specific leaseholder dispute.
• A communications archive — keep copies of material correspondence with leaseholders, contractors, and the freeholder.

This is not bureaucracy for its own sake. It is the infrastructure that makes director turnover survivable, and it is the audit trail you will need if a charge is ever challenged.

Month six onwards: resident communications

One of the most common complaints about managing agents — and one of the most compelling reasons for residents to pursue RTM — is poor communication. Leaseholders do not know what is being done, what it costs, or why. They ask and hear nothing.

You have an opportunity to do this differently. It does not require monthly newsletters or elaborate resident meetings. It requires consistent, responsive communication:

• Acknowledge issues promptly, even if you cannot resolve them immediately.
• Share the budget openly before demands are issued.
• Provide a brief update when significant works are completed or decisions taken.
• Respond to messages within a reasonable time — a few days, not a few weeks.

Trust, once built, makes everything easier. Arrears are lower in blocks where residents feel informed and fairly treated. Participation in the RTM company is higher. The work of being a director is lighter.

Common first-year pitfalls

Failing to insure on day one. See above. Do not let this happen.

Underestimating Companies House obligations. Missed filings lead to penalties and, eventually, strike-off — which would be disastrous for a company managing a building. Calendar the deadlines on day one.

Not chasing the full handover. If you are missing key documents — the leases, the accounts, the compliance certificates — do not assume they will arrive. Chase in writing, escalate to a solicitor if necessary.

Setting the budget too low to avoid difficult conversations. Undercharging now leads to a sudden, large demand later. Set a realistic budget and reserve contribution even if it means explaining a higher charge than the previous year.

Letting one director carry all the knowledge. Distribute the record across the board and into shared systems. No single person should be indispensable.

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Reeve OS is designed to carry much of the administrative load a new RTM board faces — compliant demand generation, compliance calendar, arrears ladder, supplier management, shared wiki, and resident portal — all against the block's own trust account, never Reeve's. The aim is to make the director role manageable for volunteers with day jobs.

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Frequently asked questions

How long does the outgoing agent have to hand over the records? There is no single statutory deadline, but failure to hand over records promptly is a breach of the outgoing manager's obligations. Your solicitor can write formally requiring delivery; if the agent continues to obstruct, there are tribunal and court routes available.

Does the RTM company have to hold a resident meeting every year? There is no statutory requirement for a general meeting of leaseholders unless your company's articles require one or a leaseholder requests it. Good practice suggests an annual update at minimum.

Who can be a director of the RTM company? Directors are typically leaseholders in the block. Leaseholders who hold a long lease (originally granted for more than 21 years) are qualifying tenants and members of the RTM company. Directors do not have to be members (though they almost always are in practice). All directors owe duties under the Companies Act 2006.

What if a contractor is unhappy that the new RTM company wants to renegotiate their contract? Most contracts will simply continue on their existing terms until expiry or notice is given. You are not obliged to renegotiate; you can let contracts run out and replace them at renewal. However, if a contract was procured by the previous agent without proper Section 20 consultation, take advice on whether it is binding on the RTM company.

Can the freeholder interfere in our management? The RTM company takes over the management functions specified in the leases. The freeholder retains the freehold and any rights reserved to them under the leases, but cannot generally override your management decisions within those functions. If the freeholder does interfere, take legal advice.