RTM covers our buildings. Not the shared estate. Here's how we deal with that.
If you only read one page before deciding, read this one. It is the strongest objection to RTM on a multi-block estate, so we're answering it openly, before anyone has to ask.
What the Supreme Court decided.
In FirstPort Property Services Ltd v Settlers Court RTM Company Ltd (January 2022), the UK Supreme Court settled the question for estates like ours: an RTM company acquires the management of its own building only. It does not acquire the shared estate, the grounds, facilities and services used by more than one building. Those remain with the freeholder's appointed manager, and leaseholders remain liable to pay their share of estate charges for them.
At Embassy Gardens, that means RTM would transfer the management of each participating building, its cleaning, maintenance, staff, building contracts and building budget, while the Sky Pool, gardens, cinema, gyms and estate-wide concierge and security arrangements are expected to continue being managed by BAML and recharged to the RTM companies.
We are not going to pretend otherwise, and you should be sceptical of anyone who does. Read the Settlers Court story in full →
Yes, and here is the honest arithmetic.
Building costs are the prize we can win now
A substantial share of what you pay relates to your own building, staffing, cleaning, maintenance, utilities, building contracts. Under RTM, that spend comes under the control of a company owned by the building's leaseholders: budgets published, contracts tendered, agent answerable.
Estate charges gain a watchdog
RTM companies remain the paying customers for estate services, with directors, advisers and every leaseholder's statutory rights to challenge unreasonable charges at the First-tier Tribunal. Organised buildings scrutinise estate bills far more effectively than 1,450 individual leaseholders can.
The estate is the next negotiation
Bringing the shared estate under community control is exactly what the continuing discussions with Ballymore and the freeholders, on shared estate management, Option 4 and enfranchisement, are for. RTM strengthens leaseholders' position in those discussions; it does not end them.
One estate, coordinated companies.
Where several buildings acquire RTM, their companies can work together, appointing the same professional managing agent and entering shared service agreements, so neighbours experience one seamlessly managed estate, not a patchwork. That coordination is designed in from the start: it is why the plan establishes each building's company early (at around 35% committed support) and prepares governance before any statutory notices are served.
And on day one, nothing about the shared facilities changes for you: your lease rights to use the Sky Pool, gyms and gardens are contractual and continue exactly as they are.
And none of this closes a door: EGRA will continue to engage constructively with Ballymore and the freeholders on estate matters. Exploring RTM is a separate, statutory process for deciding who manages our buildings and who they answer to.
More control, not full control.
The honest split, in one view, so nobody adds their flat with the wrong expectations.
Run by your building's RTM company
- Your building's cleaning, staffing and day-to-day upkeep
- Building maintenance and repairs, with a documented trail
- Your building's contracts, tendered openly
- Your building's budget and accounts, set and shared with leaseholders
- The choice of professional managing agent, and the right to replace them
Expected to stay estate-managed by BAML, recharged to the RTM companies
- The Sky Pool, gyms, spa and cinema
- The landscaped gardens, water features and shared grounds
- Estate-wide concierge and security arrangements
- Other estate services shared by more than one building
Your lease rights to use every shared facility continue unchanged, and organised RTM companies gain a standing voice over how these costs are run and recharged.
If the honest case makes sense to you, add your voice.
Register your flat in two minutes, no legal commitment.
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