Case No. UKUT-62-(LC)

(1) Before making a claim to acquire the right to manage any premises, a RTM company must give notice to each person who at the time when the notice is given –(a)is the qualifying tenant of the flat contained in the premises, but(b)neither is nor has agreed to become a member of the RTM company.(2)A notice given under this section (referred to in this Chapter as a “notice of invitation to participate”) must – (a)state that the RTM company intends to acquire the right to manage the premises,(b)state the names of the members of the RTM company,(c)invite the recipients of the notice to become members of the company, and(d)contain such other particulars (if any) as may be required to be contained in notices of invitation to participate by regulations made by the appropriate national authority.”7.The purpose of a notice of invitation to participate is to extend the opportunity of membership of the RTM company to all qualifying tenants who are not yet members and to give them information relevant to their decision whether to take up that opportunity. In that way all qualifying tenants can influence the RTM company’s decisions, including the decision to make a claim to acquire the right to manage. The content of the notice reflects that purpose. As provided by section 78(7), a notice of invitation to participate is not invalidated by any inaccuracy in any of the particulars required to be included in it.8.Having given notices of invitation to participate to each qualifying tenant who is not already a member of the RTM company and having allowing time to elapse to enable recipients to apply to become members, the company may then make a claim. A claim is made by serving a claim notice under section 79 on each person who is a relevant landlord. 9.The consequence of failing to give a notice of invitation to each qualifying tenant entitled to receive one is specified in section 79(2):“The claim notice may not be given unless each person required to be given a notice of invitation to participate has been given such a notice at least 14 days before.”10.Section 80(1) provides that a claim notice must comply with the requirements of that section. By section 80(3):“It must state the full name of each person who is both –(a)the qualifying tenant of a flat contained in the premises, and(b)a member of the RTM company,and the address of his flat.”11.In relation to each person identified in the claim notice it must also contain sufficient particulars of the lease to identify it (section 80(4)).12.Section 81 contains supplementary provisions, two of which describe the consequences of particular errors in a claim notice. By section 81(1), a claim is not invalidated by any inaccuracy in any of the required particulars. Section 81(2) then provides:“Where any of the members of the RTM company whose names are stated in the claim notice was not the qualifying tenant of a flat contained in the premises on the relevant date, the claim notice is not invalidated on that account, so long as a sufficient number of qualifying tenants of flats contained in the premises were members of the company on that date; and for this purpose a “sufficient number” is a number (greater than one) which is not less than one-half of the total number of flats contained in the premises on that date.” 13.It is relevant to refer to the RTM company’s liability under section 88 to pay costs incurred by a landlord and others in consequence of a claim notice having been given if the claim is subsequently withdrawn or dismissed. By section 89(3) each person who is or has been a member of the RTM company is also jointly and severally liable for those costs.