Records

The Condo Act establishes several legal requirements for records, including how:

• Condo corporations must keep and provide records
• Owners, purchasers and mortgagees can request records
• Records disputes are resolved

• 1 Identify the issue
• 2 Legal considerations
• 3 Find Solutions
• 4 The Condo Authority Tribunal

• Types of records
• Keeping records
• Responding to requests

Types of records condo corporations must keep

In this section you will find information about the kinds of records that condo corporations must keep as outlined in the Condo Act.

Core and non-core records

While condo corporations are required to keep all records, those records fall into two different categories.

Some records are classified as core records. All other records are non-core records.

Owners are entitled to get copies of both core and non-core records.

What is the difference?

1. There are more restrictions on the costs that condo corporations can charge for providing core records.
2. Condo corporations must provide core records within seven days of receiving confirmation from the requester and any required fees, if applicable. They must provide non-core records within 30 days

Complete list of core records:

Meeting Minutes (for meetings held within the last 12 months)

Declaration, by-laws and rules of the corporation.

The approved plan for the reserve fund.

Any mutual use agreements

The most recent approved financial statements

Information certificates for the last 12 months

The current fiscal year budget

The record of owners and leased units

The most recent auditor’s report

Any other record that a by-law of the corporation specifies as a core record.

All other records are non-core records.

Section 1 of Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets out the complete list of core records.

Section 1 of Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets out the complete list of core records.

Section 1 of Ontario Regulation 48/01 sets out the complete list of core records.

Keeping and Storing Records

Here is some important information to keep in mind:

Retention period

Condo corporations must keep each type of record for a specific length of time. This is known as the retention period.

Paper Records

Paper records must be kept on the condo’s property, at the condo manager / management office, or other appropriate location.

Electronic Records

Must be saved in a system that can quickly and easily reproduce them. They must be password protected and backed up.

Owners are entitled to access records

You can request records by sending the mandatory Request for Records form to your condo corporation by:

Placing it in the condo’s mailbox

Fax or email – but provided your corporation allows this. Make sure to check!

Owners are not entitled to some records

Owners, purchasers and mortgagees are not entitled to records that relate to:

Employees of the condo (except employment contracts)

Actual or contemplated litigation

Individual units or unit owners

How owners communicate with the condo corporation

Any portion of a ballot or proxy that identifies specific units (unless allowed in the by-laws)

Retention requirements are set in section 13.2 of Ontario Regulation 48/01.

Section 55 (3) of the Condo Act and section 13 (3) of Ontario Regulation 48/01 govern a requester’s right to records.

Section 55(4) of the Condo Act lists types of records that condo corporations cannot provide.

Responding to requests

Condo corporations have 30 days to respond to a request and must respond using the mandatory Board’s Response to Request for Records. The response must include:

• A description of each requested record, including whether it is a core or non-core record
• Whether the condo corporation will provide access to or copies of each record
• The fees the condo corporation is charging for access to or copies of each record (if any)
• If the condo corporation is providing access to a record, a location where the record can be accessed
• If the condo corporation refuses to provide access to or copies of a record, the provision of the Condo Act that permits them to refuse the request

Fees

Condo corporations are allowed to charge a fee to provide access to or copies of the requested records. This fee depends on several factors, including:

• Whether the records are core or non-core records
• Whether the requester asked for electronic or paper copies
• The cost of labour, printing, copying and delivering the records (where applicable)

If the request is for core records:

• If a requester asks for an electronic copy of a core record, the condo corporation cannot charge any fee to provide it, even if they do not have an electronic copy and must provide a paper copy instead.
• If a requester asks for a paper copy of a core record, the condo corporation can only charge a maximum of 20¢ per page for printing / photocopying charges.

If the request is for non-core records:

• Condo corporations can charge requesters a fee to access / to provide copies of non-core records. This fee must represent a reasonable estimate of the labour, photocopying or printing (20¢ per page max), and delivery costs the condo corporation expects to incur.
• If a requester wants an electronic copy of a record but the condo corporation does not keep that record electronically, the condo corporation can provide a paper copy and charge the costs associated with providing the record.

Delivering or providing access to records

Once corporations have received payment, they must provide records within:

7 days for core records.

30 days for non-core records.

Responses to requests

If a condo corporation responded to your request for records, you have 60 days to either:

• Respond and pay any applicable fee
• File an application with the Condominium Authority Tribunal to resolve any disputes with how the condo corporation responded to your request.

If you do not do either of these two things within 60 days, your request will be considered abandoned .

If the condominium corporation did not respond to your request, you have six months to file an application with the tribunal or your request will be considered abandoned .

The Condo Authority Tribunal cannot accept applications if they are related to an abandoned request for records.

Accompanying Statements

When a condominium corporation provides access to or copies of records, they must also provide the requester with a written document that outlines:

• The costs the corporation incurred in providing the records
• The reasoning for any redactions or modifications, if applicable
• If the condo corporation’s actual costs to produce and deliver the records were less than the requester paid, the condo corporation must pay the requester the difference.

If the condo corporation’s actual costs were higher than the requester paid, the requester must pay the least of:

• 10% of the total costs incurred by the corporation
• or 10% of the fee they paid,

For example, if the requester paid $50 and the total costs were $60, then the requestor would have to pay the condo corporation 10% of the $50 fee, or $5.

These requirements are set out under section 13.8 of Ontario Regulation 48//01.