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Canonbury Management
One Carey Lane
London
EC2V 8AE
Sales: +44 (0)207 1188 400
Client Executive: +44 (0)207 1188 100
Report a Problem: +44 (0)207 1188 500
Billing Enquiries: +44 (0)207 1188 900
Fax: +44 (0)871 750 2688
mail@canonburymanagement.co.uk
Canonbury Management is a trading name of Investment Technology Limited
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Frequently asked questions about Right To Manage (RTM)
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How long does the Right to Manage process take?
The Right To Manage process takes 5 months from payment of the invoice
to you receiving your final letter from us. If the freeholder contests the
claim then it may take a further 3-4 months for the LVT application to be
concluded.
Do we need a solicitor for this process?
The simple
answer to this is NO and we would advise against using them for this process. We
are a specialist legal service provider and will have more experience in this
field than a firm of solicitors as we conduct around 85% of all RTM claims at
the time of writing. We have done more RTM Claims than any other company and
have a 98% success rate for this process. Our applications to the LVT, in
the event of a counter notice having been provided by the freeholder, are
prepared by qualified barristers and our experienced staff will attend the
hearing to ensure that your claim has the best prospect of success.
Do I have to pay the reasonable legal costs of the freeholder and what might they be?
Yes, the law requires that you pay the reasonable legal costs of the freeholder and we would
say that costs should be around £600+£25 per flat upto a cap of £3000. If
costs are higher than this formula then you may want to consider making an
application to the LVT to have the reasonableness of the costs assessed.
What are the legal responsibilities of the RTM Company and its directors?
The directors
of the RTM Company have the normal responsibilities of any limited company,
however, they also are responsible for the maintenance of the building as the
freeholder would have been before. They effectively replace the freeholder in
terms of insurance and maintenance. We would always advise you outsource
this role to a managing agent as they will have the necessary systems,
expertise and insurances to assist in the collection of revenues, insurance and
maintenance of the building.
Should we continue to pay service charges during the RTM process?
We recommend that the service charges continue to be paid to the incumbent agent during the RTM process to ensure continuity of services.
What annual returns do we have to file for the company?
Our advice
would be to appoint a managing agent who can take care of these matters for you
and would allow you to make the company dormant and thereby reduce accounting
costs. If you decide to manage the building yourself, you will need to file
annual accounts and an annual return and you would be responsible for the
maintenance of the statutory register of members and filing of HMRC tax returns
for the bare trust.
What happens after we have filled in our online questionnaire with Canonbury?
We will then set up your property and create invoices online for you to pay. If you have given us your email address, you will
receive a username and password and a copy of the invoice. You can then pay by telephone banking or log in to our website and pay your outstanding bill.
If you do not have email, you will receive an invoice in the post which can be settled by BACs payment or telephone banking. All
payment details are shown on your invoice.
What happens if a counter notice is received?
Unfortunately,
at this point, the matter must be referred to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal
(LVT) but we will notify you if this happens. We can also complete the
application to the LVT for you for a fee of £1500 including VAT. This
figure includes not only the preparation of any legal and factual arguments but
production of the 6 bundles required by the LVT and attendance at the hearing by
our experienced staff so that you have the best chance of success.
After the RTM Process has been completed, how do we get our money from the managing agent?
This is a
potentially complicated process for a lay person to conduct and we would
strongly advise appointment of a managing agent such as ourselves to complete
this for you. If there are more than 10 flats, we would suggest that the
accounting involved would necessitate the use of an agent with good systems to
complete the ongoing management and obtaining historical fees. If you still wish
to do this, you may find some references on our website useful, however, we
cannot advise further unless you sign up for our management services.
We don’t have everyone’s details in our building – does this matter?
Our advice would be that as soon as you have 50% participation in the RTM process, it
should be started. The cost is usually recovered very quickly and it could be
false economy if you hold out until every last person is willing to go through
the process. Non-participating lessees should not be looked upon as
free-loaders in this process. They are simply, for whatever reason, not eager or
willing to participate and we would recommend going ahead with the numbers that
are, so long as you meet the 50% criteria.
What about our eligibility for the process?
We will check the land registry for the lease length. We rely on you to provide the data we
request in the RTM Questionnaire accurately and to confirm that no more than 25%
of the building’s non common parts are set to commercial use. We will also rely
on you to provide the correct names of the persons who are participating in the
process and to provide the name and address of the freeholder for legal service,
which is only available on your service charge bill or ground rent bill.
Whilst we can check some data against the HM Land Registry - you are responsible
for the provision of the data and must ensure it is accurate. We do check
names and flats but there are cases where leasehold flats are not registered.
What information can we expect from you and when?
We will send you login details within 1 working day of you having providing us with a
completed questionnaire. You will then need to login and pay the outstanding
invoices or you can pay these by BACs to our bank account using the details
provided in the invoice we send to you. You can follow the progress of the RTM
claim online in your secure area and our systems will issue you with a copy of
the claim notice and a letter indicating if a counter notice has been received
or otherwise, if the process has been successful.
All other documents are shown online, however, we do not provide these by email or post to
you.
Any other questions?
If you have
any other questions, please email or telephone through to us and our sales staff
or client services team will be pleased to assist.
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