Taking over a block from another managing agent: a handover checklist and the clocks that keep running

A block arrives with a box of leases, a bank transfer and a spreadsheet that matches neither. No statute says what the outgoing agent must hand over or when. The RICS code and the management agreement fill that gap, and several statutory clocks keep running against the client in the meantime. This checklist is for the incoming agent's first month.

What the code asks of the outgoing agent

The RICS Service Charge Residential Management Code, 4th edition, took effect on 7 April 2026 and is approved by the Secretary of State under section 87 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. A breach is not an offence, but the code can be used in evidence before courts and tribunals. On a change of agent it says:

• "There are no statutory requirements as to what information must or should be handed over upon change of managing agent, or when." The management agreement should therefore set it out.
• The outgoing agent should confirm in writing the date it stops managing and how and when documents and monies will pass.
• Documents produced by the agent or received from third parties during the appointment generally belong to the client, including leases, leaseholder files, contracts, demands, accounts and invoices. The agent may keep copies, subject to data protection law.
• An interim payment should be made, where funding allows, ready for day one of the transfer.
• The full and final reconciliation, including outstanding debtors and creditors, should be provided within three months of the termination date, with any remaining monies.
• Contractors should be told early, and leaseholders told in writing when the agent no longer manages.

The agreement should also say who deals with live disputes and arrears and who prepares any outstanding service charge accounts. Ask the client for that clause before the start date.

The money itself is held on trust under section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987: first to meet the costs it was paid for, and subject to that for the leaseholders who contribute. Read the reconciliation as an account of trust money.

The clocks that keep running

Take a handover on 1 January 2027 where the 2025 accounts were never issued. A cost incurred on 30 June 2025 and never demanded or notified is more than 18 months old on the day you start, and the client cannot recover it. A cost incurred on 15 July 2025 can still be protected by a section 20B(2) letter sent that day, because its 18 months run to 14 January 2027. The service charge year calendar sets out that clock. The code expects accounts within six months of the year end; where a change of agent makes them later, it says all parties should be told why.

Billing the same months twice

Take 24 flats with equal shares of a £36,000 budget, so £1,500 a flat, demanded half-yearly in advance. The outgoing agent demanded £750 on 1 July 2026 for July to December. You take over on 1 October 2026 and your system, set to quarterly billing, raises £375 a flat for October to December. That is £9,000 across the block demanded twice.

Before the first billing run, reconcile each flat's account to the last demand the old agent issued and the period it covered. Then put the first demand through the demand checker.

Right to manage and tribunal-appointed managers

Here the statute does set dates. Under section 93 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, an RTM company may give notice requiring the landlord, another party to the leases or a tribunal-appointed manager to provide information it reasonably requires. Compliance is due within 28 days beginning with the day the notice is given, though not before the acquisition date.

Under section 94 the same persons must pay the company the accrued uncommitted service charges they hold: the sums paid as service charges, less what is needed to meet costs incurred before the acquisition date. Payment is due on that date or as soon after as is reasonably practicable.

The first 30 days

1. Get the termination letter and the handover clause from the client. Note the date three months after termination.
2. Send the request below to the outgoing agent before the start date.
3. Confirm the interim payment has arrived.
4. List every cost not yet demanded, with its date. Send section 20B(2) letters for anything older than 12 months.
5. Give leaseholders written notice of the new agent, where to pay, and the landlord's address for notices.
6. Tell contractors where to send invoices for work instructed before the change.
7. Collect the file for any Section 20 consultation in progress. The stages guide lists what it must hold.
8. Chase the reconciliation the day its date passes.

The request to the outgoing agent

Subject: [Block], handover on [date]: documents and funds

Our client [landlord or RMC] has appointed us from [date]. In line with sections 7.4 to 7.6 of the RICS code, please confirm by [date]:

1. the date documents will be delivered;
2. the interim payment you will make on [start date];
3. the date of the full and final reconciliation, which the code puts within three months of termination;
4. the costs incurred but not yet demanded, with invoice dates, and copies of any section 20B(2) notices;
5. the last demand issued to each flat and the period it covered;
6. open section 21 and 22 requests, Section 20 consultations, arrears cases and disputes;
7. the leases, leaseholder contact list, contracts, insurance schedule, and the accounts and invoices for the last [number] years.

This is general information for England, not legal advice.