The State body responsible for collecting the charge said those who have not paid are currently receiving a second warning letter.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, LGMA CEO Paul McSweeney said action would be taken against those who are non-compliant, although they were reluctant to do so.
He said 61% of households had paid the charge.
"Letter number two will be going out now to landlords. Certainly we would expect that after three letters, some action is going to need to be taken," he said.
"To be honest, we're not really interested in doing that. We want to provide local services.
"Taking people to court, or prosecuting them, that's not the business we're in. We are in the business of supplying local services to communities."
