There was a short (and not particularly well-informed) debate in Westminster Hall yesterday about leasehold property management. Quite amusingly, Nick Boles MP (Under-Secretary of State at CLG) had this to say about the Right to Manage:
Nick Boles:… I want briefly to address the right-to-manage legislation. I must admit that this is the first time I have ever heard about it, so I may not make as much sense as hon. Members deserve. The leasehold right-to-manage legislation is designed to be available to as many private sector leaseholders living in blocks of flats as possible. The right was designed for use on a block-by-block basis. Applying the legislation to estates is complex and might result in the right becoming less, rather than more, accessible.” (emphasis added)
Well, the Upper Tribunal has disagreed with that last bit. In Ninety Broomfield Road RTM Co Ltd and lots of other cases [2013] UKUT 606 (LC) (published on Tuesday), the Upper Tribunal held that there was no problem with one RTM company taking over a whole estate. We’ll do a proper UT(LC) round up shortly, but I confess that this made me smile.