Mr. Pat Montague:

That is a very good question. We were only discussing this yesterday. One of the things at the moment is that owners' management companies are not in a position to borrow. That could be something to explore. However, the sting in the tail is that there is no point in borrowing if you cannot pay it back. This comes back to the issue of them being able to get owners to pay their share. The problem is that there are way too many owners not paying their fair share. I will give an example. My parents live in an apartment development near me in Drumcondra on Dublin's northside. They are both pensioners. They pay their service charge. I do not know what the profile is in terms of other people in the development but there is no doubt that they are paying their charge and doing their bit. If other people are not and are freeloading, then what tends to happen is that if they have a debt that has to be paid to the bank, the people who are paying are going to end up paying more.

This comes back to the issue of sorting out non-payment. At the moment, the only way around that is through the Circuit Court and even then it takes time, is costly and is not guaranteed a result. One of the things we have in mind is looking at the dispute resolution mechanisms that the Residential Tenancies Board has to try to address such issues. Arrears are a big problem. We could look at loans as a short-term measure but ultimately they would only work if OMCs had the ability to get everybody to pay. That is a problem.