The research reveals RTM formations hit record highs in 2025, with 2026 set to see even higher numbers
Almost 1,000 groups of leaseholders became RTMs in 2025; a 79% increase in just six years
Right to Manage (RTM) company formations have hit an all-time high, according to a new industry index.
New research by property management firm Placekeeper Management has revealed there were 986 RTMs established in 2025; the highest ever recorded.
The trend shows no sign of slowing down either, with 578 RTM companies already formed by the midpoint of 2026, putting the year on track to set yet another record.
The findings show a huge disparity between RTM activity and the wider UK housing market, with resident-led management activity continuing to accelerate even as housebuilding and management company formations fall.
To track this trend over time, the Altrincham-based property management firm has developed the Placekeeper RTM Index: a figure that compares RTM formation activity with housing completions against the long-term average.
The Index rose from 69 in 2019 to 155 in 2025, meaning RTM activity relative to housing completions has more than doubled in six years and now stands 55% above its long-term average.
The rise comes despite falls across the wider housing market, where completions fell from 214,290 in 2019 to 170,390 in 2025, representing a drop of around 20%.
Management company formations also dropped from a peak of 2,180 in 2018 to 1,543 in 2025, the lowest level since 2013.
RTM formations, by contrast, have continued to climb, suggesting that growth in resident-led management is increasingly being driven by factors within the existing housing stock.
Trevor Adey, Director at Placekeeper Management, said: “The most striking finding isn’t simply that RTM formations have reached a record high, but that activity continues to accelerate at a time when housebuilding levels and management company formations have fallen.
“The data suggests resident-led management is becoming a more significant feature of the UK’s existing housing stock, whether that reflects greater awareness of leaseholder rights, increased scrutiny of service charges, or wider changes in residential governance.
“For managing agents, this should be a wake-up call. Standards of transparency, communication and value for money that might once have gone unquestioned are now being scrutinised more closely than ever. Agents who don’t adapt and improve services risk losing the buildings they manage to their own residents.”
Placekeeper’s analysis draws on more than fifteen years of Companies House incorporation data and Office for National Statistics’ housing figures, covering RTM company formations, management company formations and UK housebuilding activity between 2010 and 2026.
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