Access to Records – What is the Answer?

When the Government of Ontario does open the Condominium Act for review you can be assured that access to records (section 55 in the current Act) will be one of the issues that will certainly be reviewed.  It has been very contentious as unit owners who want information feel slighted when information is redacted, Boards can feel that unit owners asking for large amounts of information are looking for any issue that they can use to attack the credibility of directors – in many cases unfairly.
Unfortunately these circumstances are as diverse as the people that are involved in them.  It is very difficult to create a set of rules that will apply fairly and satisfy both sides.
The overriding principle must be openness and transparency but it must be balanced with the right of other owners not to have the management of their condominium interfered with by owners who are using access to records rights as an obstruction tool.
One suggestion is that owners have access without cost and within 72 hours to information related to the current fiscal year and the previous fiscal year.  Information that is older may be accessed within a “reasonable time” but with an administrative cost set by the Board and communicated to the owners in the same manner as a rule under the current Act.
Photocopies of information will be provided at a reasonable cost or viewed at a cost to compensate the corporation for the time spent reviewing the documents.
We all agree that the access to information is a democratic right, but that right should not be allowed to be used at the expense of other owners.