Nobody joins an OMC board for the statutory exposure — you volunteered because the block needed someone, and became a director of a company governed by two Acts of the Oireachtas before the first meeting ended. Here is the honest map: the duties as they actually bind, the risks as they actually rank, and the machinery that makes the role safe enough that good people should keep volunteering for it.
Mary Molloy Solicitors are solicitors, not accountants or tax advisers. Nothing on this page is tax, accounting or financial advice — engage your accountant on those questions, and both advisers together where matters straddle the line. Company law procedures, CRO practice and filing deadlines change frequently, and reform of the law governing owners’ management companies and charities is ongoing; confirm the current position before acting on anything here.
The Two Rulebooks, One Rhythm
Companies Act 2014: section 228’s fiduciary duties in full — good faith, honesty and responsibility, conflicts declared, no personal use of company property — plus the returns and registers whose neglect ends in strike-off (the duties in plain English). MUD Act 2011: the annual meeting and report (s.17), the charge approved by members (s.18), the sinking fund (s.19), the three-year tenure cap (s.16). Written as a calendar, it is one manageable rhythm: AGM, report, budget vote, elections, filings, renew the insurance — and a board that keeps the rhythm has performed most of both Acts.
Where the Real Risk Lives
Not in hard judgment calls made honestly — the structure protects those. The realistic exposure is structural neglect: filings lapsed into strike-off, the MUD rhythm abandoned (which quietly strips legal foundations from everything the board then does, charges included), decisions of consequence unminuted and uninsured. The protections mirror the risks exactly: the rhythm kept, the minutes real, D&O cover in place, conflicts on the register — the same paper-first logic as every directors’ duties page on this site, applied at volunteer scale. And the agent point once more, because it decides liability questions: the PSRA-regulated managing agent performs tasks; the board keeps the duties — oversight of the agent is itself one of them.
The Board’s Ally
A properly governed board is nearly impossible to attack — member campaigns collapse against a documented, compliant record — and the coming regulatory era rewards the same posture: with OMC regulation moving toward a Housing Agency unit and service-charge regulations in drafting (what’s coming), the compliant board has nothing to fear and the undocumented one has homework. The governance reset — AGM, elections, minutes, filings, insurance, agent contract, all regularised in one exercise — is the board-side core of this practice: OMC directors & governance.
On an OMC Board and Flying Blind?
One call converts goodwill into machinery: the rhythm, the minutes, the cover and the reset - priced for volunteer boards.
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About the Author
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor practises with Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), advising company directors, shareholders, family businesses, owners’ management companies, clubs and charities across Ireland. Richard holds a Diploma in Mediation from the Law Society of Ireland — central to this work, where shareholder, family-company and apartment-block disputes are relationship disputes first, and where the MUD Act itself empowers the Circuit Court to direct parties to mediation. Contact Richard on 01 5827148 or richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every farm and family situation is different, and you should obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.