Block management firm LRPM London is predicting this year to see a dramatic rise in leaseholders exercising their Right to Manage (RTM), where flat leaseholders to take over building management from the freeholder.
This is thanks to growing awareness combined with regulatory reforms in March 2025, as well as the continued rollout of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act.
Letitia Randell, chief executive of LRPM London, said: “We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how leaseholders view their relationship with managing agents.
“They’re realising they don’t have to accept poor service or inflated costs – they have the power to take direct control, and 2026 will be the year many choose to use it.”
Equally significant is the removal of the requirement for leaseholders to cover freeholders’ legal fees when pursuing RTM.
Randell added: “Previously, the threat of paying both sides’ legal costs made many leaseholders hesitant to proceed, even when management was clearly substandard.
“That financial deterrent is gone. We’re fielding enquiries from buildings that would never have considered RTM a year ago.”
LRPM London recently supported a 24-storey Stratford development through the RTM process, working alongside specialist advisors, The RTM Company.
LRPM London now manages the building, which within months of taking control has identified over £100,000 in annual savings.
In that case one resident researched the options and mobilised their neighbours.
LRPM London anticipates 2026 will mark a step-change in leaseholder engagement, with residents far more willing to question charges and demand evidence of value.
This heightened scrutiny will reward agents operating with genuine transparency and penalise those with unclear fee structures or questionable procurement practices.
Randell added: “The days of simply accepting whatever invoice lands on the doormat are ending.
“Leaseholders are educating themselves, comparing notes with neighbours, and increasingly prepared to challenge unjustified costs.
“Managing agents who’ve relied on resident apathy need to adapt quickly.”
