Every owners’ management company has an arrears list, and most treat it as one problem with one solution. It is three problems, and the sorting is the whole strategy: the owner who cannot pay, the owner who will not pay because they dispute something, and the owner who simply refuses and has the means.
Sorting the List
Cannot pay. Lost income, illness, a marriage ending, an investment property that stopped paying for itself. Suing produces a judgment against someone with nothing, and the company has spent money to acquire a piece of paper. Mediation produces what litigation cannot: a realistic payment schedule the owner can actually perform, documented, with consequences for default — and because a signed mediation settlement is enforceable as a contract, it is a commitment rather than a hope. Will not pay, because of a dispute. The budget nobody explained, the works done badly, the apportionment that looks wrong, the two years of unanswered emails. Recovery proceedings here win the debt and keep the grievance — which returns at the next AGM, wearing a different number and bringing friends. Refusing, with means. This is the genuine debt case, and the recovery route is usually right — a mediation practice that pretends otherwise is not being useful to a board.
Why the Middle Category Is Bigger Than Boards Think
Boards see a ledger; owners see a relationship. A striking proportion of “refusers” are people whose actual complaint has nothing to do with money owed — they feel unheard, or they believe the fund is being spent badly, or they have concluded the agent is unaccountable. None of that is a legal defence to a service-charge claim, and all of it determines whether the money arrives. Mediation addresses both layers in one room: the arrears get a schedule, and the underlying complaint gets a hearing and, frequently, an explanation nobody had ever sat down to give. It also protects something boards undervalue — the volunteers. Directors carrying personal strain over neighbours’ debts tend to resign, and a scheme that burns through boards ends up managed by nobody. And a quieter point for every owner in the development: litigation history follows a scheme into every future sale, while a confidential mediated settlement does not.
A practical board discipline: before instructing anyone to sue, split the arrears list into the three categories and price each separately — recoverability, cost, and what each route does to the building’s next AGM. Most boards discover that the list is shorter than they thought and the strategy is more varied than “send it to the solicitor.”
An arrears list going nowhere? 01 5827148 — every party named first, 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.