In Avon Freeholds Limited v Cresta Court E RTM Company Limited [2026] UKSC 31, the Supreme Court held that a Right to Manage (RTM) company’s failure to serve a Notice of Invitation to Participate (NIP) on one qualifying tenant did not invalidate its claim.
The Court held that the NIP requirements in sections 78(1) and 79(2) of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 are procedural requirements intended to protect qualifying tenants, not landlords, and do not go to the RTM company’s entitlement to acquire the right to manage. As such, a failure to comply with these provisions cannot be raised by way of counter-notice at all. The proper remedy for an affected tenant is a separate enforcement application under section 107, rather than invalidation of the RTM claim as a whole. The Court also confirmed that an earlier suggestion to the contrary in A1 Properties was not binding precedent, because the point had not been argued in that case.
The decision significantly limits the grounds on which RTM claims may be resisted. The Court has now confirmed that landlords were never entitled to rely on defects in the NIP process, such as a missed or late NIP to a qualifying tenant, as a basis for defeating a claim, since qualifying tenants have no right to object to a transfer in any event. Any counter-notice should now focus on genuine substantive defects in the RTM company’s entitlement, rather than technical failures to comply with the procedure for serving NIPs. The judgment therefore closes off a previously available route for delaying or obstructing RTM acquisitions on this particular procedural technicality.
If you are involved in a Right to Manage claim or require advice on the process, please contact Thomas Coyle in our Property Litigation team.
