Block management in South East England

Temphis manages residential blocks and estates across Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, for freeholders, developers and Right to Manage companies. This page covers what we do in the region and the issues that come up here more than anywhere else.

What block management covers

A managing agent runs the parts of a development nobody owns individually: the structure, the common parts, the plant, and on an estate the roads, drainage, lighting and open space. Service charge budgeting and accounting, planned and reactive maintenance, contractor procurement and supervision, the compliance record, and dealing with residents, the freeholder and the insurer. Our block management service sets out the full scope, and what a service charge is explains what you are paying for.

Managed estates and estate charges

The South East has more new-build managed estates than any other region outside the major cities, and they are where most of the complaints come from. A house on one of these estates is freehold, but the roads, play areas, drainage and open space are not adopted, and the homeowner pays an estate charge towards them.

The legal position is much weaker than most buyers realise. A leaseholder can apply to the tribunal to test whether a service charge is reasonable. A freeholder on a managed estate, at present, largely cannot. Their practical recourse is a complaint to a redress scheme, if the estate manager belongs to one.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would change that substantially: a right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal over estate charges and the standard of work, a right to seek a substitute manager where the estate company has failed, consultation requirements for major works, transparency obligations, and mandatory redress scheme membership. None of it is in force. A government consultation on switching these provisions on closed on 12 March 2026 and no implementation date has been announced. Anyone quoting those rights to you as though they already exist is describing a Bill, not the law.

There is one feature worth knowing about if your estate charge is structured as an estate rentcharge. Section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925 can give the rentcharge owner remedies that are wildly disproportionate to the sum owed — including taking possession of the property or granting a lease over it to secure payment — unless the deed expressly excludes them. Most modern transfers do exclude them. Some do not, and it is worth knowing which yours is before an argument starts rather than after.

What good estate management looks like is not complicated: a budget that reflects what the estate actually costs, accounts that close on time, a named manager who attends, and a clear answer on which areas are due for adoption and when.

The mid-rise bracket

The South East has far fewer buildings in the higher-risk bracket than London — at least seven storeys or 18 metres with two or more residential units — but a great many in the 11 to 18 metre range, which is where external wall assessments, insurance loading and remediation questions concentrate.

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. Those are government policy rather than law: the Remediation Bill that would impose them as a statutory duty has not completed its passage and Royal Assent is not expected before 2027. It is still the timetable a building should be planning to, but it changes what can be enforced today.

Where duties do apply to a higher-risk building, they sit with the named accountable person, normally the freeholder or the RTM company, not the managing agent. The agent does the work and holds the records; the statutory duty cannot be contracted away.

Office conversions

The commuter towns of the South East have a large stock of former office buildings converted to flats under permitted development. They can be perfectly good buildings, but as a class they bring a recognisable set of inherited problems: a fire strategy written for an office rather than a residence, compartmentation that was never verified after the conversion, plant sized for a different use, and a handover pack that stops at the point of conversion.

Taking one of these on starts with establishing what actually exists, not what the file says exists.

Retirement developments on the coast

From Worthing round to Eastbourne, Bexhill and Chichester there is a heavy concentration of leasehold retirement housing, and it comes with charges that do not appear elsewhere. Event fees — variously called transfer fees, exit fees or contingency fees, payable to the landlord when a flat is sold, sublet or sometimes when a new occupier moves in — are set by the lease and are not separately regulated. The Law Commission recommended a regulatory scheme for them and it has not been brought in.

They are lawful where the lease provides for them. The problem is that residents and their families frequently do not know the fee exists until a sale is under way. Any agent managing this stock should be able to tell a leaseholder what their lease says about it without being asked twice.

Service charges and section 20

Section 20 consultation is triggered once any single leaseholder’s share of qualifying works exceeds £250, or £100 in an accounting period under a qualifying long-term agreement. Those thresholds date from 2003 and have never been uprated. Consult badly and recovery is capped at those figures unless the tribunal grants dispensation — see our guide to section 20 consultation.

Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 makes costs incurred more than 18 months before they are demanded generally irrecoverable unless the leaseholder was notified in writing inside that window. And under section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 service charge money is held on statutory trust for the leaseholders who paid it — so “which account is our money in, and what is the balance” is a question with a right answer. If a charge looks wrong, challenging a service charge sets out the route, and our fee schedule is published.

Right to Manage in the South East

Right to Manage transfers management to the leaseholders without anyone having to prove fault. The non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50% on 3 March 2025, which matters in town centres across the region where flats sit above shops and the old 25% test ruled them out. Claimant RTM companies are also no longer liable for the freeholder’s costs of a claim notice. See how Right to Manage works, RTM compared with an RMC, and what directors are taking on. Where a building cannot qualify and management has genuinely failed, the alternative is a tribunal-appointed manager under section 24.

Where we take instructions

Across the Home Counties and the wider South East, within reach of our London office.

• Essex — Chelmsford, Colchester, Brentwood, Basildon, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock, and Epping Forest including Loughton and Buckhurst Hill

• Hertfordshire — Watford, St Albans, Three Rivers, Broxbourne, Welwyn Hatfield, and Hertsmere including Radlett, Borehamwood and Elstree

• Surrey — Guildford, Woking, Elmbridge, Epsom and Ewell, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne, and Waverley including Godalming and Farnham

• Kent — Maidstone, Medway, Dartford, Gravesham, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury

• Sussex — Brighton and Hove, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex including Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, Worthing, Eastbourne and Chichester

• Berkshire — Reading, Slough, Bracknell Forest, Wokingham, and Windsor and Maidenhead

• Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire — Luton, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Cambridge and Peterborough

Coverage this wide only works if the manager actually attends. We cap intake at ten to fifteen properties a year for that reason — a building an hour from the office still gets inspected on the same cycle as one in London. We also manage across London, North West England and North Wales.

Changing managing agent

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 how to choose a managing agent covers the questions to ask before you appoint anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Can I challenge my estate charge at the tribunal?

Not at present, in most cases. Freehold homeowners on managed estates have far weaker rights than leaseholders; the usual recourse is a complaint to a redress scheme. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would give a tribunal route, but those provisions are not in force and no implementation date has been announced.

What is an estate rentcharge, and why does it matter?

It is one way an estate charge can be structured. Where it is used, section 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925 can give the rentcharge owner remedies out of all proportion to the debt, including taking possession or granting a lease over the property, unless the deed excludes them. Most modern transfers exclude them; it is worth checking which yours does.

Do you manage smaller residential blocks in the South East?

Yes, from small conversions upwards. A six-flat block still needs a budget that reflects what the building costs to run and a lease that has actually been read.

Are your services suitable for RTM companies?

Yes, including before the claim is made. We can say whether the building is likely to qualify and what management will cost once the RTM company holds it.

Do you manage retirement developments?

Yes. They need particular care over event or transfer fees, which are set by the lease, are not separately regulated, and are most often discovered by families partway through a sale.

How quickly can you take over management?

Usually a few weeks, depending on how quickly the outgoing agent releases funds, records and the compliance file. The handover, not the appointment, sets the timetable.

Speak to us about your building or estate

Tell us where it is and what is going wrong, and we will give you a view rather than a brochure. Get in touch.

Block management in North West England

Temphis manages residential blocks and estates across Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and Cheshire, for freeholders, developers and Right to Manage companies. This page sets out what we do in the region, the towns we take instructions in, and the parts of the job that matter most here.

What block management covers

A managing agent runs everything nobody owns individually: the structure, the common parts, the plant and the shared services. Setting and collecting the service charge, keeping the accounts, arranging planned and reactive maintenance, procuring and supervising contractors, holding the compliance record, and dealing with leaseholders, the freeholder and the insurer. Our block management service sets out the full scope, and what a service charge is explains what you are paying for.

Two very different kinds of building

The North West has a high proportion of converted period stock alongside city-centre new build, and the two need managing differently — a Victorian conversion and a twenty-storey scheme have almost nothing in common beyond the word “block”.

A converted terrace or villa split into four or six flats usually has no lift, no communal plant to speak of, and a lease drafted decades ago that may not cover reserve funds or modern compliance costs properly. The risk there is the lease, not the building: money that cannot be collected because nobody checked what the lease actually permits.

A city-centre tower is the opposite. The lease is modern and comprehensive, but the building carries lifts, pumps, sprinklers, smoke control, communal heating and a compliance regime to match. The risk there is the budget: under-collecting for two years and then facing a major works bill nobody has a reserve for.

Building safety

A higher-risk building is one of at least seven storeys or at least 18 metres with two or more residential units. Manchester and Liverpool city centres hold a large share of the region's stock in that bracket, and for those buildings the duties sit with a named accountable person — usually the freeholder or the RTM company, not the managing agent. Registration, a safety case report, mandatory occurrence reporting and a resident engagement strategy all follow from that, and none of it can be contracted away to an agent.

The Building Safety Regulator became a standalone body sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 27 January 2026. Its published targets for 2026–27 are 18 weeks for non-complex gateway 2 applications and 12 weeks for non-complex remediation applications — timescales that belong in a major works programme from the start, not discovered halfway through.

Service charges and section 20

Section 20 consultation is triggered when any single leaseholder's share of qualifying works exceeds £250, or £100 in an accounting period for a long-term agreement. Those thresholds were set in 2003 and have never been uprated, so most meaningful work crosses them. Consult badly and recovery is capped at those figures unless the First-tier Tribunal grants dispensation — see our guide to section 20 consultation.

Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is the other one that bites: costs incurred more than 18 months before they are demanded are generally irrecoverable unless the leaseholder was notified in writing inside that window. It is the rule that catches agents who let a year's accounts drift. If you think a charge is wrong, challenging a service charge sets out the route, and our fee schedule is published.

Right to Manage in the North West

Where leaseholders want control without proving fault, Right to Manage is usually the route. The non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50% on 3 March 2025, which matters in a region with a great deal of flats-over-shops stock in town centres: buildings that failed the old test may qualify now. Claimant RTM companies are also no longer liable for the freeholder's costs of a claim notice. See how Right to Manage works, RTM compared with an RMC, and what directors are actually signing up to. Where a building will not qualify and management has genuinely failed, the alternative is a tribunal-appointed manager under section 24.

Where we take instructions

Greater Manchester

Manchester, Salford, Trafford including Altrincham and Sale, Stockport, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Wigan. The city-centre and Salford Quays schemes are the high-rise, high-compliance end of the market; the outer boroughs are mostly smaller purpose-built blocks and conversions where the lease and the reserve fund do the work.

Liverpool City Region

Liverpool, Wirral and Birkenhead, Sefton including Southport and Bootle, St Helens, Knowsley, and Halton covering Runcorn and Widnes. Liverpool has a large stock of period conversions and former commercial buildings turned residential, which tend to bring inherited compliance gaps with them — fire strategy, compartmentation and records that stopped short of the conversion.

Chester, Ellesmere Port and Northwich

Across Cheshire West and Chester we take instructions in Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Winsford and Frodsham. This is largely smaller purpose-built blocks, retirement developments and conversions rather than towers, and the recurring issue is a building that has been managed by an agent at a distance, or not really managed at all, with no planned maintenance and no reserve. Northwich in particular is the kind of town where a block can sit for years with a service charge that has never been re-budgeted against what the building actually costs to run.

Crewe, Macclesfield and Wilmslow

Across Cheshire East we cover Crewe, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Congleton, Nantwich, Sandbach, Knutsford and Poynton. Crewe has a good deal of newer estate development where the question is usually the estate rent charge and what the transfer actually obliges residents to pay for. Wilmslow and Alderley Edge run to higher-value, lower-unit-count blocks where leaseholders expect a level of service and reporting that a volume agent does not provide.

Warrington

Warrington sits between the Manchester and Liverpool markets and has both building types — town-centre apartment schemes alongside suburban blocks and managed estates.

We also manage across London, the South East and North Wales.

Changing managing agent

If the current agent is not delivering, changing is usually more straightforward than people expect. 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 how to choose a managing agent is worth reading before you pick anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Do you manage residential blocks in Manchester and Liverpool?

Yes, across Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, from city-centre apartment schemes to smaller suburban blocks and period conversions.

Do you cover Cheshire towns such as Northwich, Crewe and Wilmslow?

Yes. We take instructions across Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East, including Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Winsford, Crewe, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Nantwich, Sandbach, Knutsford and Congleton.

Can you take over a poorly managed building?

Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. The first tasks are usually the same: establish what the lease actually permits to be recovered, rebuild the budget from what the building costs to run, and close the gaps in the compliance file.

Do you support RTM companies?

Yes, including before the claim is made. We can say whether the building is likely to qualify and what management will cost once the RTM company holds it.

Who is responsible for building safety, the agent or the freeholder?

The accountable person, normally the freeholder or the RTM company. The managing agent does the work and holds the records, but the statutory duty stays with the accountable person.

Do you manage estates as well as blocks?

Yes. Managed estates with shared roads, drainage and open space are common in the newer developments around Crewe, Warrington and Ellesmere Port, and they raise their own questions about what residents are obliged to pay and to whom.

Speak to us about your building

Tell us where the building is and what is going wrong, and we will give you a view rather than a brochure. Get in touch.

Block management in North Wales

Temphis manages residential blocks and estates across North Wales from an office at 3 Connaught House, Riverside Business Park, Conwy LL32 8UB. The North Wales team can be reached on 01492 370090.

Managing here is not the same as managing in England, and not only because of the geography. Wales has its own building safety regime, its own building control arrangements, and six separate principal authorities across the region.

What block management covers

A managing agent runs the parts of a building nobody owns individually: the structure, the common parts, the plant and the shared services. Service charge budgeting and accounting, planned and reactive maintenance, contractor procurement and supervision, the compliance record, and dealing with leaseholders, the freeholder and the insurer. Our block management service sets out the full scope, and what a service charge is explains what you are paying for.

Building safety in Wales is not the English regime

This is the single most misunderstood point on Welsh blocks, because most published guidance is written for England and then assumed to apply.

• A higher-risk building in Wales is one at least 18 metres in height or of at least seven storeys that contains at least one residential unit, or is a hospital, care home or children's home. In England the threshold is two or more residential units, so the Welsh definition is wider and catches buildings an English test would not.

• In Wales the local authority is the building control authority for higher-risk buildings. In England that role sits with the Building Safety Regulator. If you have been told to deal with the BSR about a building in Conwy or Wrexham, that is the English regime being applied to a Welsh building.

• A new dutyholder regime applies to building work in Wales from 1 July 2026, with limited exceptions.

Leasehold law itself — service charges, section 20 consultation, Right to Manage, lease extensions — is largely common to England and Wales, so the statutory points below apply on both sides of the border.

Service charges and section 20

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. Those thresholds date from 2003 and have never been uprated, so most meaningful work crosses them. Consult badly and recovery is capped at those figures unless the tribunal grants dispensation — see our guide to section 20 consultation.

Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 makes costs incurred more than 18 months before they are demanded generally irrecoverable, unless the leaseholder was notified in writing inside that window. In Wales, leasehold disputes go to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, part of the Residential Property Tribunal Wales, rather than to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) — a difference worth knowing before anyone drafts an application. Our guide to challenging a service charge covers the grounds, and our fee schedule is published.

Right to Manage in North Wales

Right to Manage applies in Wales as it does in England, and the non-residential floor area limit rose from 25% to 50% on 3 March 2025. That matters in North Wales town centres, where a great deal of the leasehold stock sits above shops and is exactly the kind of building that failed the old 25% test. Claimant RTM companies are also no longer liable for the freeholder's costs of a claim notice. See how Right to Manage works, RTM compared with an RMC, and what directors are taking on. Where a building will not qualify and management has failed, the alternative is a tribunal-appointed manager.

Where we take instructions

We operate across the six principal areas of North Wales. Each is a separate local authority with its own licensing, planning and building control, and its own fire and rescue service. Knowing which one applies to a building, and having dealt with them before, is most of what local knowledge actually means.

Conwy County Borough

Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Rhos-on-Sea, Conwy, Deganwy, Abergele and Llanrwst. This is our home patch. A lot of the stock is seaside conversion and purpose-built retirement development, where the recurring problems are ageing communal plant, external decoration cycles that have slipped, and reserve funds that were never set at a level the building needs.

Wrexham County Borough

Wrexham and the surrounding villages. Wrexham has grown quickly, and the leasehold picture reflects it: town-centre flats above commercial premises, newer apartment schemes, and managed estates on the edge of the city where the question is usually what the transfer obliges residents to pay for and who is actually accountable for the roads and open space. If your building sits above a shop and you were told years ago that Right to Manage was unavailable, the 2025 change makes that worth re-checking.

Denbighshire

Rhyl, Prestatyn, Denbigh, Ruthin and St Asaph. Coastal Denbighshire has a high proportion of older converted stock, and conversions are where compliance gaps tend to be inherited rather than created — fire strategy, compartmentation and records that stopped short of the conversion itself.

Flintshire

Mold, Flint, Buckley, Connah's Quay and Holywell. Smaller blocks and estate developments, often within commuting distance of Chester and the Wirral, and often managed until now from a long way away.

Isle of Anglesey

Holyhead, Beaumaris, Menai Bridge, Llangefni and Amlwch.

Gwynedd

Bangor, Caernarfon, Porthmadog and Pwllheli. Bangor's student and rental market sits alongside conventional leasehold blocks, and the two need very different handling.

We also manage across North West England, London and the South East.

Changing managing agent

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 how to choose a managing agent covers the questions to ask before you appoint anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Do you manage blocks in Wrexham?

Yes. We take instructions across Wrexham County Borough, including town-centre flats above commercial premises, newer apartment schemes and managed estates on the edge of the city.

Is the building safety regime in Wales the same as in England?

No. A higher-risk building in Wales needs only one residential unit, against two or more in England, and the local authority is the building control authority for those buildings rather than the Building Safety Regulator. A new dutyholder regime applies to building work in Wales from 1 July 2026.

Which tribunal hears leasehold disputes in Wales?

A Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, part of the Residential Property Tribunal Wales, rather than the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) which covers England.

Can leaseholders in North Wales use Right to Manage?

Yes. Right to Manage applies in Wales, and since 3 March 2025 a building can have up to 50% non-residential floor area and still qualify, which brought many flats-over-shops buildings into scope.

Do you manage smaller blocks?

Yes, from small conversions upwards. A four-flat conversion still needs a budget that reflects what the building costs to run and a lease that has actually been read.

Do you have people in the region?

Yes. The North Wales office is at 3 Connaught House, Riverside Business Park, Conwy LL32 8UB, on 01492 370090.

Speak to the North Wales team

Tell us where the building is and what is going wrong, and we will give you a view rather than a brochure. Call 01492 370090 or get in touch.

Funding Right to Manage

Funding Support for Right to Manage Applications

One of the biggest barriers to pursuing Right to Manage is the upfront cost of setting up the RTM company, serving notices and progressing the legal process.

For suitable buildings, Temphis may be able to fund the upfront costs associated with establishing the Right to Manage structure and recovering control of the management of the building, subject to assessment and appointment terms.

This allows qualifying leaseholders to pursue a change in management without needing to fund the initial process themselves.

Where support is provided, costs are typically recovered over time through the ongoing management appointment, allowing the transition to be managed in a practical and commercially sustainable way.

The terms, in plain language

Where funding is agreed, it covers the upfront cost of incorporating the RTM company, serving the statutory claim notice, and the legal work needed to complete the acquisition of the right to manage.

In return, the RTM company appoints Temphis as managing agent for a minimum term of three years from the date management transfers. If the RTM company ends the appointment before that term expires, the funded costs become repayable.

Funding is subject to assessment and due diligence, and not every building will qualify. We will tell you before any costs are incurred.

None of this affects the statutory position. The right to manage belongs to the qualifying leaseholders, not to us, and the RTM company should take independent legal advice on the funding agreement before signing it.

If your building is being poorly managed and you believe Right to Manage may be the right solution, speak to our team to discuss whether your building may qualify.

Can Temphis fund the cost of setting up a Right to Manage company?

For suitable buildings, yes. Temphis may be able to fund the upfront costs associated with establishing the RTM structure and progressing the process, subject to assessment, due diligence and appointment terms. Costs are typically recovered over time through the management arrangement.

Considering Right to Manage But Concerned About Cost?

Many leaseholders recognise that their building would benefit from changing managing agents, but the cost of setting up an RTM company can be a barrier.

Temphis may be able to remove that barrier by funding the upfront process for suitable buildings, allowing leaseholders to focus on improving the management of their property rather than the initial cost.

Contact us to discuss your building and whether funding support may be available.