Does an RTM company need to file accounts?

By Ben Davies · Updated 26 September 2026

Yes. A Right to Manage (RTM) company is a company on the Companies House register like any other, so it owes Companies House the same two annual filings as any other company — annual accounts and a confirmation statement (the yearly check that the company's details on the register are right) — whether or not it's actually done anything that year.

That surprises some RTM directors, because an RTM company doesn't exist to make money or run a business. It's created purely so that leaseholders can exercise the Right to Manage, introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 — taking over the management of their block without buying the freehold. By law, an RTM company is always limited by guarantee: no shares, no share capital, members instead of shareholders, each giving a nominal guarantee (typically £1) rather than buying in.

None of that changes the filing duty. Accounts are due 9 months after the accounting reference date, and the automatic late filing penalties apply from £150 if they're missed. A confirmation statement is due separately, at least once every 12 months, confirming the registered office, directors and people with significant control are correctly recorded. There's no automatic penalty for lateness, but it is an offence: after a warning notice giving 28 days to file, Companies House can fine the company or its officers on its published scale (£250 to £2,000 a penalty, legal maximum £10,000) and can start striking the company off.

What kind of accounts the company files depends on whether it's dormant: no significant accounting transactions of its own during the period. Many RTM companies are, because service charges collected from leaseholders are held on trust rather than becoming the company's own money — see is a flat management company dormant? for the full test, which applies equally to RTM companies. If the company isn't dormant, it files micro-entity accounts instead — still simple, just with the year's transactions in them.

An RTM company is also within Corporation Tax scope; see does a flat management company need a CT600? for how that side works. DormantFile files for RTM companies the same way as it does for any flat management company — see does DormantFile support companies limited by guarantee?

Read the full guide: How to file dormant accounts for a flat management or RTM company