Ringley Group, one of the UK’s leading residential property consultancies, has secured the UK’s largest apartment complex to be managed by leaseholders as a franchisee client.
The Century Wharf Estate in Cardiff is formed of 945 apartments and houses spread across 19 buildings. In 2011, leaseholders on the estate started legal action to take over responsibility for the management of the buildings from the freeholders - under a process known as Right to Manage (RTM) - and in 2014 took formal control.
Century Wharf Estate is now managed by three RTM companies - one for each of the freeholds - representing the 906 apartments on Century Wharf Estate.
As franchisee clients of Ringley Group, the Century Wharf Estate RTMs will pay to use Ringley’s operating systems, which have been developed in-house by the company and draw from the Group’s two decades’ experience in residential real estate.
Headquartered in London with a secondary office in Manchester, Ringley Group currently manages over 12,000 homes across the UK, making it one of the country’s largest property managers.
Commenting Mary-Anne Bowring, group managing director at Ringley, said: “Right To Manage is a useful corrective in the leasehold system that gives residents the ability to either replace their managing agent or take over responsibility for managing the building from the freeholder.
“We are thrilled to be working with what is the largest Right To Manage company in the UK, who will be using Ringley’s bespoke operating systems that have been developed in-house and draw from our many years of managing residential property.
“Century Wharf Estate makes our first client in Wales, and we hope to expand our presence in the country further, building on what has been a year of solid growth at a group-level despite the challenging circumstances created by the pandemic.”
About Century Wharf Estate
Set across 10 acres on the east bank of the River Taff, Century Wharf Estate is one of Wales’s largest luxury apartment developments, with residents benefiting from access to a pool and landscaped gardens.
The estate is located within walking distance of Cardiff city centre, including the Principality Stadium, and is close to the cultural offerings at Cardiff Bay, including the Wales Millennium Centre, home of Welsh National Opera, as well as Mermaid Quay’s waterside quarter, home to a wide range of restaurants and coffee shops.
About Right To Manage
The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 created the right for leaseholders to change the appointment of the management of their building to another provider by setting up a special company (known as Right To Manage company or RTM) to take over from the freeholder the rights of appointment of management. RTM also only applies to leasehold flats and not to leasehold houses or bungalows.
In order to be eligible for the Right to Manage (RTM), both the properties and the applicant leaseholders must meet certain statutory criteria.
Properties will qualify if they consist of a structurally detached building or part of a building that can be served independently, they contain two or more flats held by qualifying tenants (leaseholders whose lease was originally granted for a term of more than 21 years), and at least two-thirds of the flats are leased to qualifying tenants.
Properties will not qualify if
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More than 25% of the building’s floor area is non-residential
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If there are self-contained parts owned by different landlords
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The property is owned by the local authority
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The building of four or less flats with one flat being occupied by the landlord as his principal home
