Handover disputes are the OMC problem with the most moving parts: common areas not transferred, works not completed, defects unresolved, service charges on unsold units, sinking-fund contributions, and documentation that never arrived. Litigating them means proving each element separately against a party with its own advisers. Mediating them means building one package.
Why the Package Beats the Claims
Each handover complaint has its own evidential burden — the transfer obligation and its terms, the specification against which works are measured, the defect and its cause, the liability for charges on units still held, the fund contribution and its basis. Run separately through litigation, each is slow and expensive, and the technical ones (defects especially) demand experts on both sides arguing about work that in many cases has not been done and may never be done in the form pleaded. In a room, the parties can trade across the whole set: some works completed to an agreed scope, a contribution toward others, an agreed sum for defects the developer will not remedy, the transfer executed on an agreed date, the outstanding documentation and certification delivered, charges on unsold units resolved, and specified claims released — documented as one settlement, enforceable as a contract, with an implementation timetable and consequences for slippage. That trade is unavailable to a court, which decides claims rather than designs outcomes.
Preparation, and the Limits Worth Naming
Handover mediations reward preparation more than most: the title and transfer position established (what has been transferred, what has not, and what the contracts and leases actually require), a schedule of outstanding works and defects with supporting reports, the documentation gap listed, the financial position assembled (charges, contributions, the fund’s state), and clarity on who can bind the OMC — board authority, or a members’ resolution identified in advance. Two honest limits. Where structural or fire-safety issues are involved, the technical and regulatory dimensions are substantial, other statutory schemes may be relevant, and the file needs construction expertise alongside the mediation — that work runs with constructionlawsolicitor.ie. And where a developer entity is insolvent, dissolved or has no assets, no room produces money that does not exist — the realistic questions there are about the fund, insurance, bonds and any other available routes, and you will be told so plainly rather than sold a mediation. The wider OMC context is on the OMC page.
The timing advantage boards miss: developers with live schemes, ongoing planning relationships and reputational exposure in the same market have reasons to settle that a dissolved company does not. Handover disputes are almost always cheaper to resolve while the developer is still building than five years after they have moved on.
A handover that never quite happened? 01 5827148 — name every entity for the conflicts check.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation and a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Mediations are conducted at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the firm’s Kilkenny office, at neutral venues, at the parties’ own premises — or fully online. Fees are agreed in writing with all parties before any mediation begins. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. The content of this website is general information about mediation and Irish law. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every dispute turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.
The mediator is not your legal adviser. Where Mary Molloy Solicitors is appointed as mediator, the mediator is neutral: the mediator acts for no party, advises no party, and does not decide the dispute. All parties are encouraged to take independent legal advice, and in particular to take advice before signing any mediation settlement. The firm does not act as mediator in any dispute in which it acts, or has acted, for a party — conflicts are checked before any appointment is accepted. Where the firm is instructed as solicitor for one party in a mediation, it acts for that party alone and does not act as mediator in that dispute.
Fees. Fees for mediation are agreed in writing with all parties before the mediation begins, and fees for legal services are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where a dispute or its resolution has tax consequences — succession, business transfers, property, compensation payments — those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and are best addressed before any settlement is signed.