Irish Mortgage Arrears After the CCMA: The New Conduct Requirements Explained

If your arrears procedures, training material or client-facing content still refer to the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears, they are citing a revoked document. The Central Bank’s own register now lists the 2013 Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears as revoked. Its requirements were consolidated into the Consumer Protection Code 2025 in March 2026, where they sit as Regulations 221 to 264 and are referred to as the Conduct Requirements – Mortgage Arrears, or CRMA.

This is not a renaming exercise. The requirements now sit in Part 3, Chapter 9 of the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013 (Section 48) (Consumer Protection) Regulations 2025, which took effect on 24 March 2026 after a twelve-month implementation period. And in August 2026 the Central Bank issued fresh guidance on what makes an alternative repayment arrangement appropriate and sustainable, replacing its earlier guidance from 2013, 2020 and July 2025.

The six criteria an arrangement must satisfy

The August 2026 guidance sets out what “appropriate and sustainable” requires. An alternative repayment arrangement must meet all six of the following:

• it provides for affordable repayments allowing for the borrower’s reasonable current and future expenses
• it enables full repayment of the outstanding principal, or an agreed revised principal
• it takes account of the borrower’s individual circumstances
• it rests on realistic assumptions about future servicing capacity
• it is clear and unambiguous about its full implications over the life of the mortgage
• it is agreed by both lender and borrower before it takes effect

Read as a set, these rule out a good deal of what used to pass for forbearance. An arrangement that defers a problem without repaying the principal fails the second criterion. One built on optimistic income assumptions fails the fourth. One imposed rather than agreed fails the sixth.

Sustainability is assessed conservatively

On servicing capacity, the Central Bank expects assumptions to be credible and conservative, and says repayments should not take a disproportionately high proportion of the borrower’s net disposable income.

Where an arrangement will not fully repay the balance by maturity, it needs a clear, realistic and achievable plan to deal with the shortfall — lump sums, reducing the principal, or disposing of the asset. That plan must appear in the arrangement offer letter required by Regulation 254(1), and the Central Bank expects lenders to attempt verbal contact when making the offer rather than relying on the letter alone.

A repayment plan can be modified later by agreement if circumstances change, but lenders should not change an agreed plan unilaterally.

Three kinds of arrangement, treated differently

Long-term arrangements are the expected route for a borrower who needs support to resolve financial difficulty, aimed at resolving the arrears over the long term.

Short-term arrangements run for about a year or less. They may suit a borrower in pre-arrears or early arrears facing a temporary problem, but only where there is a reasonable expectation of full repayment over time. The guidance explicitly warns against excessive use of short-term arrangements and says they should be used only where doing so is in the borrower’s longer-term interest. Rolling a borrower through successive short-term arrangements is the practice this language is aimed at.

Temporary arrangements — those offered under Regulation 254(4) and (5) before the standard financial statement assessment is complete — fall outside the guidance altogether.

The standard financial statement drives the process

A full assessment of the borrower’s standard financial statement is required under Regulation 251(1) to (4) before a full arrangement assessment can be made.

On review of an existing arrangement under Regulation 257, there is a useful practical rule: where the borrower’s circumstances have changed and fewer than twelve months have passed since a completed statement, the lender may treat the last statement, updated with the borrower’s confirmed changes, as the completed statement. At twelve months or more, the lender must comply with Regulation 251(1) to (4) again.

There is also a protection worth knowing. On review, where no change is reported but the arrangement will not fully repay the balance, lenders should make reasonable efforts to agree a repayment plan — and a borrower who does not respond in that limited context should not be classified as non-cooperating. That classification carries serious consequences, and the guidance is explicit that it does not apply here.

Lender obligations the guidance highlights

Three regulations are singled out. Under Regulation 231(1) lenders must proactively encourage borrowers to engage. Under Regulation 253(1) they must assess all of their available arrangement options — and the Central Bank goes further, expecting firms to challenge traditional solutions and consider innovative long-term options. Under Regulation 261, legal proceedings are a last resort available only after every reasonable effort to agree an arrangement has been made.

Where no appropriate and sustainable arrangement exists, lenders should consider alternatives including Personal Insolvency Arrangements and the Mortgage-to-Rent scheme before litigation.

The Central Bank also expects firms to incorporate the guidance into their policies, procedures and processes, and to use the term “appropriate and sustainable” consistently with the regulations, particularly Regulation 253.

Why this is a training problem, not a documentation one

The CRMA replaces a code with regulations, which raises the status of the requirements, and the guidance converts several judgements into expectations a supervisor can test: whether assumptions were conservative, whether all available options were assessed, whether short-term arrangements were used in the borrower’s longer-term interest, whether a shortfall plan was realistic and achievable.

Every one of those is a judgement made by an individual in an arrears support function, under time pressure, about a distressed customer. The regulation does not tell them the answer; it tells them the standard their answer will be judged against. That is a competence requirement in substance.

The UK has moved in a similar direction — our guide to MCOB after the Mortgage Rule Review covers the equivalent shift there, where a mechanical trigger was replaced by a duty to exercise judgement. Firms operating in Ireland should also read this alongside the Central Bank’s client asset regime, which follows the same pattern of naming an accountable individual and requiring documented competence. Our CPD course library covers the conduct and consumer-protection foundations these roles draw on.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears still in force?

No. The Central Bank lists the 2013 Code as revoked. Its requirements were consolidated into the Consumer Protection Code 2025 in March 2026 as Regulations 221 to 264, known as the Conduct Requirements – Mortgage Arrears.

When did the new regime take effect?

The Consumer Protection Code 2025 took effect on 24 March 2026, following a twelve-month implementation period. The Central Bank’s guidance on appropriate and sustainable alternative repayment arrangements was issued in August 2026 and replaces its 2013, 2020 and July 2025 guidance.

Does a new standard financial statement have to be completed at every review?

Not always. Under Regulation 257, where circumstances have changed and fewer than twelve months have passed since a completed statement, the lender may use the last statement updated with the borrower’s confirmed changes. Beyond twelve months, Regulation 251(1) to (4) applies again.

Can a borrower be classed as not co-operating for failing to respond to a review?

Not in the specific situation the guidance addresses. Where no change in circumstances is reported but the arrangement will not fully repay the balance, a borrower who does not respond to efforts to agree a repayment plan should not be classified as non-cooperating on that basis.

When can a lender begin legal proceedings?

Under Regulation 261, only as a last resort and only after every reasonable effort has been made to agree an appropriate and sustainable arrangement. Personal Insolvency Arrangements and the Mortgage-to-Rent scheme should be considered among the alternatives first.