QLD: Can a committee secretary share strata financial information with a spouse?

Question: Can a committee secretary share strata financial information with a spouse to help review budgets and accounts?

My spouse and I co-own a lot in an 18-unit strata scheme. My spouse has been the secretary for several years and previously also acted as treasurer.

I am an accountant. My spouse asks me to review the monthly financial reports and budgets, and to help prepare the annual budget and sinking fund forecasts. Each year, I have shared a detailed budget summary with all owners, which has helped owners become more involved.

The current chairperson and treasurer do not want me involved and say my spouse is breaching confidentiality rules or laws by sharing financial information with me. Can the secretary share strata financial information with a spouse for the purpose of reviewing accounts and preparing budgets, and what limits or approvals apply?

Answer: Rather than being an issue about confidentiality or legislation, this seems to be an issue about control.

If someone says you are breaking a rule, you can always ask them to be specific about what rule they think you are breaking.

Here, committee members at your scheme are accusing your wife of breaking a confidentiality rule. Ask them specifically what rule that is? In what way is it being broken?

As your wife is the secretary, the owners may be referring to the Committee Code of Conduct. This states:

2 Honesty, fairness and confidentiality

1. A committee voting member must act honestly and fairly in performing the member’s duties as a committee voting member.
2. A committee voting member must not unfairly or unreasonably disclose information held by the body corporate, including information about an owner of a lot, unless authorised or required by law to do so.

Considering the wording in the second clause, we might ask whether your wife discussing the scheme’s accounts with you is an ‘unfair’ or ‘unreasonable’ disclosure of information.

It’s not clear how either of these terms would apply.

As a lot owner, the financial documents for the scheme should be available to you, so there shouldn’t be an issue with you having access.

Are you being given access to any privileged documents that wouldn’t be accessible if you did a search of the books and records? Is there any advantage you gain in seeing these documents that isn’t otherwise afforded to other owners?

If the answer to these questions is no, it is hard to see any reason why your wife can’t discuss scheme issues with you in her capacity as secretary.

So, what’s really the problem here? Rather than being an issue about confidentiality or legislation, this seems to be an issue about control. Most body corporate problems are.

It may be fine for your wife to talk to you about scheme issues, but from those conversations, you are drafting reports about body corporate finances. Are you sending them out yourself, or are you expecting the body corporate to? Either way, you shouldn’t be surprised to find that committee members may perceive this as an attempt to supersede their roles.

If I were advising the committee, I would say that, as an owner, you are entitled to the information and your opinions about the scheme, but they are just that – opinions. They shouldn’t try to control you through the minutiae of the legislation, but equally, they shouldn’t worry too much about what you are saying. They should focus on advocating for the position they are advancing.

From your end, you might want to ask if there is a more constructive way to make your voice heard. If not, be prepared to accept criticism for what many people will perceive as backseat driving.

My guess is that there are some wider interpersonal issues at play here. Perhaps your scheme, as a group, should work on those rather than squabbling over the minutiae of the legislation.

This post appears in Strata News #786.

William Marquand
Tower Body Corporate
E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au
P: 07 5609 4924