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Glossary

Qualifying tenant

Also called: qualifying leaseholder

For the right to manage, the leaseholder of a flat under a long lease, which normally means a lease granted for more than 21 years.

Qualifying tenants are the people who can take part in a right to manage claim and become members of the RTM companyRTM companyA private company limited by guarantee, set up by leaseholders, whose object is to acquire and exercise the right to manage their building..

Who counts

  • The tenant of a flat under a long lease: generally one granted for a fixed term of more than 21 years, plus some other kinds such as right-to-buy leases and shared ownership leases where the leaseholder owns 100% (ss.75–77).
  • Joint leaseholders are together one qualifying tenant.
  • There is only one qualifying tenant per flat. If a flat has been sub-let on another long lease, the leaseholder lowest in the chain usually qualifies.
  • One person can be the qualifying tenant of more than one flat.

Who doesn't

  • A tenant under a business tenancy (Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Part 2).
  • Someone renting a flat on an ordinary assured shorthold tenancy. They are the leaseholder's tenant, not a qualifying tenant.

Why it matters

A building only qualifies if qualifying tenants hold at least two-thirds of the flats, and the claim needs members holding at least half of the flats. See Does our building qualify?.

Related terms

Guides that use this term

Sources

  1. Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s.75 (qualifying tenants)
  2. Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, s.76 (long leases)

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