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The statutory provisions
The statutory provisions
Sections 72 to 77 of the 2002 Act explain the circumstances in which the right to manage can be acquired and exercised. These qualifying rules, as they are described in the cross heading to that group of sections, begin by identifying the premises to which the right applies in section 72. The whole section provides:
"Premises to which this Chapter applies
This Chapter applies to premises if—
they consist of a self-contained building or part of a building, with or without appurtenant property,
they contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants, and
the total number of flats held by such tenants is not less than two-thirds of the total number of flats contained in the premises.
A building is a self-contained building if it is structurally detached.
A part of a building is a self-contained part of the building if—
it constitutes a vertical division of the building,
the structure of the building is such that it could be redeveloped independently of the rest of the building, and
subsection (4) applies in relation to it.
This subsection applies in relation to a part of a building if the relevant services provided for occupiers of it—
are provided independently of the relevant services provided for occupiers of the rest of the building, or
could be so provided without involving the carrying out of works likely to result in a significant interruption in the provision of any relevant services for occupiers of the rest of the building.
Relevant services are services provided by means of pipes, cables or other fixed installations.
Schedule 6 (premises excepted from this Chapter) has effect.”
Section 72(1)-(5) closely mirror section 3(1)-(2), of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (the 1993 Act), which identify the premises to which the right of collective enfranchisement applies. Substantially the same language is also found in section 117(5), Building Safety Act 2022 (but with the clarification that “it” in section 72(3)(b) is a reference to “the part”). Each statutory regime therefore applies to a self-contained building, meaning one which is structurally detached, and to a self-contained part of a building, meaning one which satisfies the conditions in section 72(3) and (4).
The right to manage provisions in the 2002 Act have been considered in two important decision of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. In Ninety Broomfield Road RTM Co Ltd v Triplerose Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 282 the Court of Appeal determined that an RTM company may only manage one building. In FirstPort Property Services Ltd v Settlers Court RTM Co Ltd [2022] UKSC 1 the Supreme Court concluded that the right to manage does not extend to shared estate facilities used in common by the members of the RTM company and tenants of other blocks on the same estate but is confined to premises which the RTM company can manage on its own. To permit management of shared facilities would be counter to a fundamental purpose of the 2002 Act, namely, “to confer management rights and responsibilities on a body (the RTM company) which is accountable to and controlled by the very tenants who will be affected by the conduct of that management, through their right to be members of the RTM company, rather than by either the landlord or a third party manager which will have its own agenda.” I will return to Settlers Court later in this decision.