Block management in London
Temphis manages residential blocks across Greater London for freeholders, developers and Right to Manage companies, from a base in E18. This page sets out what block management in London actually involves in 2026 — the building safety regime, the remediation backlog, the new levy on development, and the service charge pressures that come with all three.
London is not simply a bigger version of the rest of the market. It holds more buildings caught by the building safety regime than anywhere else in England, a remediation programme larger than every other region combined, and the highest levy rates in the country. Managing a block here means managing that, not just the cleaning rota.
What a block management company does
A managing agent runs the parts of a building nobody owns individually: the structure, the common parts, the plant and the shared services. That means setting and collecting the service charge, keeping the accounts, arranging planned and reactive maintenance, procuring and supervising contractors, holding the compliance record, and being the point of contact for leaseholders, the freeholder and the insurer. Our block management service sets out the full scope; if you are unsure what you are already paying for, start with what a service charge is.
Building safety: what applies in London
A higher-risk building is one with at least seven storeys or a height of at least 18 metres, containing two or more residential units. London has a far greater concentration of these than any other part of the country, which is why the regime shapes management here more than elsewhere.
For those buildings there is a named accountable person — usually the freeholder or the RTM company — and, where there is more than one, a principal accountable person carrying the duties for the structure and common parts. The building must be registered, a safety case report prepared, a mandatory occurrence reporting system in place, and a resident engagement strategy published. None of that is delegable in law: an agent does the work, but the duty stays with the accountable person. Getting that distinction wrong is the most common failure we see on buildings transferring to us.
The regulator itself changed shape recently. On 27 January 2026 the Building Safety Regulator became a standalone non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, having been established inside the Health and Safety Executive. Its published targets for 2026–27 are to respond to non-complex gateway 2 applications within 18 weeks and non-complex remediation applications within 12 weeks. For a London block planning major works on a higher-risk building, those timescales belong in the programme from the outset rather than being discovered halfway through.
Remediation: London carries most of the problem
As at April 2026 there were 1,078 buildings in London in a government remediation scheme where work had not yet started — more than every other English region put together. The Mayor published a London Remediation Acceleration Plan on 5 June 2026 in response, aimed at unsafe cladding on buildings above 18 metres and, for mid-rise buildings above 11 metres, at getting either the work done or a firm completion date fixed.
The national deadlines announced in July 2025 are the end of 2029 for buildings of 18 metres or more and the end of 2031 for buildings between 11 and 18 metres, with unlimited fines and imprisonment for failing to comply without reasonable excuse. One point worth being accurate about: those deadlines are government policy, not yet law. The Remediation Bill that would impose them as a statutory duty had not been introduced to Parliament at the time of writing, with Royal Assent not expected before 2027. Anyone telling you the 2029 deadline already binds your freeholder is ahead of the legislation. That does not make it safe to wait — a building that starts in 2029 will not finish in 2029 — but it does change what can be enforced today.
What this means in practice for a London block is that the remediation position has to be established and documented early: which scheme, if any, the building sits in; whether the developer is covered by the remediation contract; what the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 do to cost recovery; and what the building's own funds can absorb if they do not apply.
The Building Safety Levy, from 1 October 2026
This one matters most to developers, and it starts imminently. From 1 October 2026 a levy applies in England to new residential development requiring building control approval — houses, flats, build-to-rent, purpose-built student accommodation, retirement housing, and conversions or changes of use. It applies regardless of the building's height and regardless of whether the developer had anything to do with historic defects.
It is charged on gross internal floor area, including communal space, at rates set by local authority area and pegged to local house prices
Rates vary enormously, and London sits at the top: Kensington and Chelsea at £100.35 per square metre against £12.70 in County Durham
A 50% brownfield discount applies where at least 75% of the permission area is previously developed land — which covers a large share of London schemes
Developments of ten units or fewer are excluded, as is affordable rental and intermediate housing and a list of community uses
Floorspace is declared on commencement, the authority calculates the charge, and no completion certificate issues until it is paid — so it is an occupation blocker, not just a cost line
For a developer handing a completed London block over to a managing agent, the levy is another reason the handover pack and the first service charge budget need to be right the first time.
Service charges in London
London service charges run higher than the national picture for reasons that are mostly structural: taller buildings with more plant, lifts and communal systems, higher insurance, higher contractor rates, and more compliance to fund. That makes transparency more important, not less.
Two statutory points do a great deal of work here. Section 20 consultation is triggered when any single leaseholder's share of qualifying works exceeds £250, or £100 in an accounting period for a qualifying long-term agreement — thresholds set in 2003 and never uprated, so in a London block almost any meaningful work crosses them. Fail to consult properly and recovery is capped at those figures unless the First-tier Tribunal grants dispensation. Our guide to section 20 consultation covers the notice stages. And section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 means costs incurred more than 18 months before they are demanded are generally not recoverable unless the leaseholder was notified in writing within that window — a rule that catches agents who let a year's accounts drift.
If you think a charge is unreasonable, the route is set out in challenging a service charge. Our own fee schedule is published, which is rarer in this sector than it should be.
Buildings insurance
Premiums on London blocks, particularly those with cladding or remediation history, rose sharply after 2017 and have not returned to where they were. Since 31 December 2023 the FCA's rules on multi-occupancy buildings insurance have required the remuneration position to be disclosed to leaseholders — not only the broker's commission but anything paid to the freeholder or the managing agent, stated in cash terms rather than as a percentage. If you have never seen that disclosure for your building, ask for it; our guide to insurance commissions explains what you are entitled to.
Right to Manage in London
London has a high proportion of mixed-use buildings — flats over shops, restaurants and offices — and for years many of them could not claim Right to Manage because more than 25% of the floor area was non-residential. That limit rose to 50% on 3 March 2025, which brought a large number of London buildings into scope for the first time. Claimant RTM companies are also no longer liable for the freeholder's costs of dealing with a claim notice, which removes the other deterrent.
If your building has commercial space at ground level and you were told years ago that RTM was not available, it is worth checking again. See how Right to Manage works, or RTM compared with an RMC if you are deciding between structures. Where the building will not qualify and management has genuinely failed, the alternative is a tribunal-appointed manager under section 24.
Where we work in London
We take instructions across Greater London and the City, from a base in London E18.
Central — Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Islington and the City of London
North — Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Brent and Harrow
East — Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, and Barking and Dagenham
South — Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich, Wandsworth, Merton, Croydon, Bromley and Sutton
West — Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing, Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames, Kingston upon Thames and Hillingdon
Working across borough boundaries matters more than it sounds. Licensing, planning and building control sit with the borough, and a building on a boundary can deal with two. We hold the relationships on both sides rather than treating London as one market. We also manage across the South East, the North West and North Wales.
Freeholders, developers and RTM companies
The three have different problems. A freeholder wants the asset maintained, the income collected and the liability contained. A developer wants a clean handover, a first-year budget that does not collapse, and a building that reflects on them once they have gone. An RTM company wants to know that the directors, who are volunteers with day jobs, are not personally exposed by something nobody told them about — which is what our guide to director duties is for.
Changing managing agent in London
If the current agent is not delivering, changing is usually more straightforward than people expect, and the handover is where the value is won or lost: the service charge funds and the statutory trust position, the accounts and arrears ledger, the compliance file, the contracts and their notice periods, and the building safety documentation. Our page on transferring your block to Temphis sets out the process and the questions to put to any incoming agent. Before you choose, how to choose a managing agent is worth ten minutes.
Frequently asked questions about block management in London
How much does block management cost in London?
It depends on the number of units, the plant and services in the building, and the compliance burden. London buildings usually cost more per unit to manage than comparable buildings elsewhere because there is more to comply with and contractor rates are higher. Our fee schedule is published rather than quoted on request.
What counts as a higher-risk building?
At least seven storeys or at least 18 metres in height, with two or more residential units. Those buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator and have a named accountable person, a safety case report and a resident engagement strategy.
Who is legally responsible for building safety, the agent or the freeholder?
The accountable person, which is normally the freeholder or the RTM company, not the managing agent. An agent carries out the work and holds the records, but the statutory duty cannot be contracted away.
Is the 2029 cladding deadline legally binding?
Not yet. The end-of-2029 and end-of-2031 deadlines were announced in July 2025 and are government policy; the Remediation Bill that would make them a statutory duty has not completed its passage. Buildings should be planning to them regardless.
Does the Building Safety Levy affect existing blocks?
No. It applies to new residential development requiring building control approval from 1 October 2026, so it affects developers rather than existing leaseholders. Developments of ten units or fewer are excluded.
Can a mixed-use London building claim Right to Manage?
Often yes, since 3 March 2025. The non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50%, which brought many flats-over-shops buildings into scope for the first time.
How quickly can you take over management of a London block?
Usually a few weeks, depending on how quickly the outgoing agent releases funds, records and the compliance file. The handover, not the appointment, is what sets the timetable.
Speak to us about your London building
Whether you are a freeholder, a developer completing a scheme, or a director of an RTM or resident management company, we can look at the building and tell you plainly what it needs. Get in touch and we will come back with a view rather than a brochure.