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01 What is a Management Company?

A so called "management company" is a company registered in the CRO usually as a Company limited by Guarantee (CLG) or a Designated Activity Company (DAC),  with an object clause to manage a multi-unit development. The "management company" owns the common areas of the development such as: car parks, green space, stairwells, lifts and communal hallways and maintains them for the benefit of all property owners and typically provides for insurance cover.

On acquiring a unit within the development, in addition to the apartment or house such person also shares ownership of the common areas. Stemming from this, it is usually a condition of the purchaser's contract that they sign a co-ownership agreement which obliged them to become a member of the management company.    These co-ownership agreements are essentially rooted in the laws of contract and private property,  rather than in any particular Act of the Oireachtas.  Following on from this, it should be clear that the requirement to become a member of a management company is not a requirement under company law. 

There is no special body of company law which applies only to so called "management companies" or is applied differently so far as management companies are concerned.  The "FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions) section of this website answers most general company law type questions in relation to all companies.  Most of the issues arising in the so called "management companies" are not company law issues and the ODCE cannot assist.   The attached document lists the breaches of company law where ODCE can assist with.

02 Are management companies a product of company law?

No. It is important to stress that management companies have no special meaning and are in no way a requirement of company law. There is nothing in the Companies Act which states that a management company must be brought into existence in connection with any multi-unit development, and some multi-unit developments exist which do not have a management company associated with them. Furthermore, it is important to point out and emphasise that there is no special body of company law that applies solely to management companies.

03 Where can I find the legal source from which management companies operate?

Director publishes ODCE’s Strategy Statement 2003-2005

31 January 2003

Mr Paul Appleby, Director of Corporate Enforcement, has today published the Strategy Statement for his Office for the next three years. This Statement identifies the following five key goals, each of which has a number of sub-objectives:

Goal 1 - Encouraging Improved Compliance with the Companies Acts;
Goal 2 - Uncovering Suspected Breaches of Company Law;
Goal 3 - Prosecuting Detected Breaches of the Companies Acts;
Goal 4 - Sanctioning Improper Conduct with respect to Insolvent Companies;
Goal 5 - Providing Quality Services to Internal and External Customers.

In commenting on the Statement, the Director said:
"This Strategy Statement serves a number of purposes, namely:

  • to inform ODCE's stakeholders (i.e., company directors, secretaries and managers, their professional advisers and the public at large) of our future work priorities;
  • to set benchmarks against which the performance of the Office can be judged in the future;
  • to serve as a focal point for collective staff effort in the coming years.
The publication of the Statement marks a new chapter in the development of the Office. We are at the end of our first full year of activity, a period during which substantial staff and other resources were, of necessity, devoted to putting in place a sound foundation on which to base the Office's future operation.

Now that this foundation is in place, it is our intention to focus our resources towards:
improving compliance with the duties and obligations set down by company law and with best practice generally;
taking appropriate action to remedy and/or sanction departures from those duties and obligations.
Given our historical levels of non-compliance with company legislation, together with the widely recognised importance of, and need for, better corporate governance practices, my staff and I are looking forward to the considerable challenge now facing us in delivering long-term improvements in company law compliance standards."

Editor's Note

The Strategy Statement for 2003-2005 is the first such Statement produced by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement since its establishment 14 months ago. The Director's decision to prepare such a Statement was influenced by the growing recognition among public bodies of the necessity to clearly define and set out their long-term strategic objectives.

A copy of the Strategy Statement is available from the Publications Section of the ODCE website at www.odce.ie/media_publications. A short review of the Office's activity in 2002 is also available from the same source. The Director expects to publish a detailed Annual Report for 2002 by the end of May.
31 January 2003

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Telephone: +353 1 858 5800
Email: info@odce.ie