Question: Is a committee member permitted to share financials with another lot owner as published to the committee by the strata manager?
Is a committee member permitted to share financials with another lot owner as published to the committee by the strata manager – eg. the quarterly income and expenditure statement for admin and sinking accounts and the general ledger.
Are they regarded as private documents, available only to the committee?
Answer: In some circumstances, it may not be in the Body Corporate’s interests for the information to be shared
Under section 231 of the Standard Module, a body corporate is obliged to keep certain records, including accounting records and statements of account for each financial year. Likewise ‘associated committee meeting material’ must be retained. That associated material includes notice of meetings, including agendas and attachments (such as financial statements).
Under section 233 of the Standard Module, a lot owner can access the records of the body corporate by completing and lodging the required BCCM Form 12, with the Body Corporate (where the body corporate is managed, care of the body corporate manager) and paying the required fee. Access is via inspection or delivery of copies.
There is no (direct) injunction upon a member of the committee providing body corporate records to a lot owner, but committee members should ensure that in doing so they do not breach their obligations under the Code of Conduct in Schedule 1A to the Act. In some circumstances it may not be in the Body Corporate’s interests for the information to be shared, for example until after the relevant committee meeting is conducted.
Committee members are not permitted to disclose information held by the body corporate, including information about an owner of a lot, where that would be unfair or unreasonable (unless required by law to make the disclosure).
Michael Kleinschmidt Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers E: michael.kleinschmidt@bagl.com.au P: 07 5406 1280