Residentive is UK block and resident management with live itemised service-charge ledgers and AI-led operations. FirstPort (Emeria) and Rendall & Rittner (Odevo) are the two largest national managing-agent groups.
The three parties
Residentive is a UK block and resident management operator. FirstPort is the largest national managing agent. Rendall & Rittner is the flagship UK brand of Odevo, the other consolidator at national scale.
This site
Block and resident management with live ledgers, AI support, and a published 0% trade-markup direction.
Named competitor
National managing agent. Bulk procurement. Annual service-charge estimate and year-end accounts.
Named competitor
National managing agent. Bulk procurement (including energy). Annual budgets and expenditure reports.
The comparison list
Cells describe published capabilities as of 17 August 2026, not quality scores. We do not use ticks for “better communication” or similar subjective rows. Coming-soon Residentive products are labelled. Verify via the numbered sources.
Residentive
Yes — allocations, supplier payments and reserve movements in ProperPortal, with timestamps and references.
FirstPort
Residentive
Yes — ProperResponse™ AI Call Handling. Residents call 0330 024 2648. A human joins if confidence drops below 90%.
FirstPort
Not published as an AI voice product. FirstPort reports regional customer service and first-time resolution metrics.
Residentive
Yes — ProperAudit™ (free tier: up to 25 documents / 250 MB) for contracts, invoices and statements.
FirstPort
Not published as a self-serve audit product. Year-end accounts and estimates are the published financial pack.
Rendall & Rittner
Not published as a self-serve audit product. Budgets and expenditure reports are the published pack.
Residentive
Direct-to-trade, 0% agent markup via ProperHub™ (coming soon). Invoices attach to the live ledger.
FirstPort
Residentive
ProperSafe™ — Golden Thread repository and Accountable Person dashboards (coming soon).
FirstPort
Partial — operator safety accreditations (ISO 45001, British Safety Council ratings). Not marketed as a resident/director Golden Thread product.
Rendall & Rittner
Partial — QUOODA® is described as an internal risk, compliance and safety platform. Not marketed as a resident Golden Thread product.
Residentive
FirstPort
Rendall & Rittner
Partial — MyPlace lists community events, groups and clubs where applicable. Not described as board voting.
Residentive
RMC / RTM and leaseholder-led appointments. Built for directors who want to replace a national agent.
FirstPort
Residentive
Growing UK book. We do not publish a homes figure on this page — ask us for the current number.
| Criterion | Residentive | FirstPort | Rendall & Rittner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can residents and directors see a live itemised service-charge ledger? | Yes Yes — allocations, supplier payments and reserve movements in ProperPortal, with timestamps and references. | ||
| Is there a resident / director portal? | |||
| Can you pay the service charge in the current portal? | Partial Partial — Rendall & Rittner state payment is not yet available on MyPlace, and R&R Online payments have stopped. | ||
| Is there 24/7 AI voice support with a published human-handoff rule? | Yes Yes — ProperResponse™ AI Call Handling. Residents call 0330 024 2648. A human joins if confidence drops below 90%. | Not published Not published as an AI voice product. FirstPort reports regional customer service and first-time resolution metrics. | |
| Is there a self-serve service-charge document audit? | Yes Yes — ProperAudit™ (free tier: up to 25 documents / 250 MB) for contracts, invoices and statements. | Not published Not published as a self-serve audit product. Year-end accounts and estimates are the published financial pack. | Not published Not published as a self-serve audit product. Budgets and expenditure reports are the published pack. |
| How are contractors priced to the block? | Coming soon Direct-to-trade, 0% agent markup via ProperHub™ (coming soon). Invoices attach to the live ledger. | ||
| Is there a director-facing Building Safety Act Golden Thread product? | Coming soon ProperSafe™ — Golden Thread repository and Accountable Person dashboards (coming soon). | Partial Partial — operator safety accreditations (ISO 45001, British Safety Council ratings). Not marketed as a resident/director Golden Thread product. | Partial Partial — QUOODA® is described as an internal risk, compliance and safety platform. Not marketed as a resident Golden Thread product. |
| Are building IoT sensors (leaks, climate, plant) a published resident product? | |||
| Community voting and director board-pack tooling? | Partial Partial — MyPlace lists community events, groups and clubs where applicable. Not described as board voting. | ||
| Who typically appoints the manager? | Published fact RMC / RTM and leaseholder-led appointments. Built for directors who want to replace a national agent. | ||
| Ownership | Published fact Gravitonic Ltd (UK), brand Residentive. Not a European private-equity roll-up. | Published fact Odevo (Sweden-backed consolidator). Sister brands include HML / Vegner, Premier Estates and Trinity. | |
| Homes under management (their published figures) | Published fact Growing UK book. We do not publish a homes figure on this page — ask us for the current number. | ||
| Industry body memberships they list | Published fact Not listed as a claim on this website as of 17 August 2026. Ask us for current memberships. |
The difference
These are capability gaps in the published national model — annual packs, bulk procurement, contact centres — against products Residentive already ships or has labelled as coming soon. They are not claims that FirstPort or Rendall & Rittner “don’t care” or do a bad job. Where they publish a weaker or different version of a feature, the table says Partial or Not published.
What they publish
FirstPort’s published cycle is an estimated service charge at year-start and year-end accounts. Rendall & Rittner publish budgets and expenditure reports, plus portal headlines. Neither describes a running, itemised ledger residents can follow pound-by-pound.
What Residentive offers
ProperPortal shows allocations, supplier payments and reserve movements as they happen — the same numbers for residents and directors, not a PDF drop once a year.
What they publish
FirstPort reports regional contact-centre metrics and first-time resolution. Neither FirstPort nor Rendall & Rittner publish a 24/7 AI voice product with a stated confidence threshold for when a human must join.
What Residentive offers
ProperResponse™ AI Call Handling answers on 0330 024 2648. If confidence drops below 90%, a human joins the call. That rule is on our product page — not a slogan.
What they publish
Both nationals produce the statutory / customary year-end pack. Neither markets a self-serve tool where directors upload invoices and contracts and get an evidence-linked exception report before the AGM.
What Residentive offers
ProperAudit™ starts free (25 documents / 250 MB). Use it while you are still with your current agent — including as part of a 50% diagnostic.
What they publish
Both sell bulk procurement as the value. FirstPort’s own FAQ says a FirstPort-connected business may be invited to tender for some fire/alarm and out-of-hours work, with disclosure in year-end notes. That is a published conflict-management model, not a live trade invoice on a ledger.
What Residentive offers
ProperHub™ is direct-to-trade with a published 0% agent markup (coming soon). Completed jobs are designed to land on the live ledger with the trade invoice attached.
What they publish
FirstPort cites ISO 45001 and British Safety Council ratings. Rendall & Rittner describe QUOODA® as their internal risk and compliance platform. Neither markets a resident- or director-facing Golden Thread repository for Building Safety Act duties.
What Residentive offers
ProperSafe™ is a Golden Thread repository and Accountable Person dashboard (coming soon) — built for the people who carry the duty, not only the operator’s back office.
What they publish
Rendall & Rittner are mid-migration: MyPlace is replacing R&R Online, a client portal is “in development”, and their resident-support page states you cannot yet pay on MyPlace while R&R Online payments have stopped. FirstPort’s My Home is live for payment, but still bills-and-invoices rather than a live ledger.
What Residentive offers
One Residentive portal for ledgers, documents, repairs, voting and payment — no dual-login gap published as a current state.
Service charges
All three parties collect and administer service charges. The difference is what residents can see between the annual pack, and who is allowed to sit between the block and the trade. See live ledgers, ProperAudit and ProperHub.
Resident experience
Each party has a portal. The comparison is what the portal is for — paying a bill versus watching the ledger — and whether voice support has a published escalation rule. ProperPortal and ProperResponse.
How to switch
Many boards can change agent without a new Right to Manage claim — if the RMC or RTM already appoints the manager. The steps below are a typical path, not legal advice. Your lease, articles and management agreement decide what is possible.
In December 2025 the Housing Minister wrote that he had “significant concerns” about FirstPort’s performance, citing service-charge increases, management-fee proportion, transparency, slow complaints handling and debt collection ([13]). The Telegraph reported that The Property Institute suspended FirstPort for three months over a handover issue, and that MPs were told FirstPort — unlike Rendall & Rittner — manages some sites under deed arrangements that restrict switching ([14]). The BBC reported residents who felt trapped by rising estate charges ([15]). Those are attributed news facts, not Residentive’s verdict on your building.
Confirm who can appoint the agent
Check the lease, the RMC or RTM articles (Companies House), and any estate deed. If directors already appoint the manager, you often do not need a new Right to Manage claim.
Read the current management agreement
Note the notice period, break windows, and any automatic renewal. Most agreements need written notice; timing varies.
Align the board and minute the decision
Follow the voting rules in your articles. Record why you are changing agent and who may sign the new appointment.
Appoint the incoming agent first
Agree scope, fees and start date with the new agent so there is no gap in insurance, safety or collections.
Serve written notice on the outgoing agent
Keep a copy. The notice period usually runs from receipt, not from the day you drafted the letter.
Request the handover pack and funds
Ask for building documents, accounts, contractor warranties, insurance, leaseholder contacts, and unspent service-charge money. Escalation routes include The Property Ombudsman and the First-tier Tribunal if a handover stalls.
Tell leaseholders the new contacts
Write to residents with the new reporting routes, portal login, and the date the change takes effect.
Fit
Independent starting point: Leasehold Advisory Service [22].
Everything you need to know about Residentive vs FirstPort vs Rendall & Rittner
Residentive is UK block and resident management with live itemised service-charge ledgers, 24/7 ProperResponse™ AI Call Handling, and a published 0% trade-markup direction. FirstPort is the largest national managing agent (360,000+ homes, Emeria-owned) and publishes My Home for bills, invoices and repairs plus an annual estimate and year-end accounts. This page compares those published models as of 17 August 2026 — not star ratings.
Residentive publishes live ledgers, a self-serve service-charge audit, and AI voice with a 90% human-handoff rule. Rendall & Rittner is a national managing agent (about 90,000 units, part of Odevo) with MyPlace / R&R Online, annual budgets and reports, and bulk procurement. Both can act for RMCs and RTMs; the contrast is ledger granularity, audit tooling, and how trades are priced to the block.
In structure, yes: both are large, consolidator-owned national managing agents. FirstPort is owned by Emeria (France). Rendall & Rittner is part of Odevo, which also owns HML / Vegner, Premier Estates and Trinity. Residentive is a UK brand of Gravitonic Ltd and is not a European private-equity roll-up.
Yes. Rendall & Rittner is a founding UK brand of Odevo. Odevo later acquired Premier Estates, Trinity, and HML / the Vegner Group, taking the group to more than 300,000 homes. HML is a sister brand, not a third pole of this comparison. This page names Rendall & Rittner because that is the brand directors typically search.
Often yes, if the RMC or RTM company has the power to appoint and terminate the managing agent. Check the management agreement, the company’s articles, and whether a freeholder or deed restricts the appointment. Timing and handover depend on those documents. We help directors map the path; we do not replace a solicitor.
Not always. If you already have an RMC or RTM company that appoints the agent, directors can usually change agent under company law and the management contract. Right to Manage is the usual route when a third-party freeholder controls the appointment and will not agree a change. Confirm your structure before starting RTM.
BBC reporting described homeowners and leaseholders who felt trapped by rising FirstPort estate charges. The Housing Minister and MPs have raised concerns about service charges, transparency and complaints handling. MPs were also told some FirstPort sites use deed arrangements that restrict switching. Whether your site can switch depends on your documents, not headlines.
FirstPort’s help page says it does not charge extra fees for arranging contractors and that procurement sits in the management fee. It also says any commission is declared in year-end notes, and that a FirstPort-connected business may be invited to tender for some fire/alarm and out-of-hours work. Check that page and your development’s accounts.
Residentive’s published model is direct-to-trade through ProperHub™ with 0% agent markup. ProperHub is coming soon and is labelled as such on this page. Until it is live for a given block, trade arrangements are agreed in the management appointment.
A live ledger shows service-charge money as it moves: allocations, supplier payments and reserve transfers with timestamps and references. FirstPort My Home and Rendall & Rittner MyPlace publish bills, invoices and reports; their cycle is still built around annual estimates or budgets and year-end accounts. ProperPortal is designed so directors and residents see the same running record.
Both. Residentive is UK block and resident management operated by Gravitonic Ltd, delivered through a product platform (ProperPortal, ProperResponse, ProperAudit, and further products). We act as managing agent where an RMC or RTM appoints us. The software is how residents and directors see money, repairs and compliance.
Use Book a 50% diagnostic on this page or the homepage. The 50% Audit is Residentive’s review of service-charge spend and procurement friction while you are still with your current agent. It is not a tribunal claim and not legal advice. You can also start a free ProperAudit upload in the portal.
Every comparison cell is tied to a numbered source in Sources & verification. FirstPort and Rendall & Rittner figures come from their public sites and named news outlets, accessed 17 August 2026. Email enquiries@residentive.co.uk if you need a verification pointer. This page is marketing information, not legal advice.
Verification
To verify these comparisons, use the links below or email enquiries@residentive.co.uk. External pages were checked on 17 August 2026 and may change.
This page compares published capabilities of Residentive, FirstPort and Rendall & Rittner as of 17 August 2026. It is marketing information for RMC and RTM directors, not legal advice and not a quality score. Switching depends on your lease, company articles and management agreement. To verify a cell, use the numbered sources or email enquiries@residentive.co.uk.
Switch the appointment, or start with a 50% diagnostic of your current agent. Tell us if you are with FirstPort, Rendall & Rittner, HML, or another manager.