Condominium Corporations Are Not Authorized to Release Owners’ Emails to Third Parties Without Clear Consent of the Owners
Recently, we have received enquiries from clients about whether or not condominium corporations are required to provide a list of owners’ email addresses to owners (in accordance with a request for records) or to a third party (for instance, the Condominium Authority of Ontario). The short answer is no.
Owners
It is clear that condominium corporations are required to maintain owners’ email addresses in accordance with Section 46.1 of the Condominium Act, 1998 and Section 12.6.1 of O. Reg 48/01. As a result, the email addresses become a part of the records of the Corporation.
Generally speaking, owners, mortgagees and purchasers (or an agent of one of them) are entitled to access the records of the Corporation provided that the request is solely related to that person’s interests as an owner, a purchaser or a mortgagee of a unit, as the case may be, having regard to the purposes of the Act. Having said that, this right to review the records is subject to certain restrictions as described in Section 55(4) of the Act. As a result, before releasing email addresses of any owners, based on a Request for Records, we must review the exclusions.
Section 55 (4) states:
The right to examine or obtain copies of records under subsection (3) does not apply to,
(a) records relating to employees of the corporation, except for contracts of employment between any of the employees and the corporation;
(b) records relating to actual or contemplated litigation, as determined by the regulations, or insurance investigations involving the corporation;
(c) subject to subsection (5), records relating to specific units or owners; or
(d) any prescribed records.
Despite subsections (3) and (4), a corporation may disclose a record described in clause (4) (b) but shall not disclose,
(a) a record described in clause (4) (a);
(b) subject to subsection (5), a record described in clause (4) (c); or
(c) subject to the regulations, a record described in clause (4) (d).
As a result, the corporation is not permitted to disclose a prescribed record unless permitted by the Regulations.
In accordance with Section 13.11 (2)(1), email addresses (or electronic communication addresses) of owners are a prescribed record covered by Section 55(4)(d) of the Act. As a result, unless specifically provided for in Section 13.11, owner’s email addresses shall not be disclosed as part of a request for records.
Sections 13.11 (4) and (5) do provide limited disclosure exceptions for prescribed records. However, these exceptions do not relate to the record of owner/mortgagees’ emails (unless it is the email of the owner who is making the request).
Accordingly, the Act and Regulations clearly state that condominium corporations must not disclose email addresses of owners other than the owner making a request. Put another way, owners’ email addresses are not to be disclosed to other owners.
Third Parties
There is no provision in the Condominium Act, 1998 (the “Act”) or the corresponding Regulations that permits a condominium corporation to disclose records of the Corporation to anyone other than owners, mortgagees and purchasers (or an agent of one of them). In our view, a condominium corporation is not permitted to release corporate records to third parties (“outsiders”) except as required for the performance of the corporation’s objects and duties (or otherwise with necessary consent from owner(s)).
We understand that, in the most recent Condominium Authority of Ontario (“CAO”) Return, the CAO has requested the following information:
- Details of how the condominium corporation maintains the record of email addresses for owners and mortgagees,
- the application used to maintain the records (ex. Excel, MS Word, etc).
The CAO’s correspondence then advises that the CAO wishes “to engage directly with all condo owners regarding the information and services that we have developed specifically for them”. As a part of this, the CAO asks whether the CAO can contact the corporation to discuss how they might connect with the condominium’s owners.
While condominium corporations can certainly agree to have a discussion with the CAO, we caution that corporations are not able to disclose email addresses of owners to the CAO, unless they have explicit written permission from every owner (whose email address is disclosed) that they may provide the email address to the CAO. [In our view, disclosure of owners’ email addresses (to the CAO) is generally not within the corporation’s objects and duties.]
In our view, this is also consistent with the clear wording of the Act and Regulations that state the condominium corporation shall not allow owners, mortgagees and purchasers to view these records.
Summary
In summary, condominium corporations are required to maintain a record of email addresses. However, these email addresses are generally not to be disclosed to anyone, without the express written consent of the specific owner or mortgagee (or in rare cases where the disclosure is necessary to meet the objects or duties of the corporation).
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