Question: Can the committee communicate informally via a closed WhatsApp group? These conversations are not always about the body corporate. Are they body corporate records?
Can the committee communicate informally via a closed WhatsApp group? Some committee members do this for efficiency and to alert members to an email. We also used the chat for personal messages, such as happy birthday wishes. We make no decisions. Do we need to include this chat in the body corporate records for owners? What about text messages to individual members?
Answer: Any communication about body corporate business is very likely going to be a body corporate record.
This is a great question. It raises one of the biggest issues in strata – body corporate records and access to them – and provides an opportunity for a quick refresher on what we consider best practice for committees.
How a committee communicates is up to them, be it in person, by email, text messaging, What’s App or carrier pigeon, for that matter. Having said that, any communication about body corporate business is very likely going to be a body corporate record. That means the communication is available to interested persons, such as owners, as well as tenants (occupiers) and people like agents for either of those parties.
Legislation changed in Queensland in 2024 to effectively broaden the scope of what a ‘record’ is. Text messaging and WhatsApp communications, while not explicitly referred to in legislation, are nonetheless very likely to be captured by this legislative definition.
This then raises the ‘best practice’ issues. Committees should always keep in mind that anything they say about the operation of the scheme will very likely be available for search by a pretty wide range of people. That means committee members should try to keep their communications ‘on point’, factual and objective. Ideally, the business of being on a committee and day-to-day life, such as sending happy birthday wishes, would always be kept separate. Dedicated email addresses for body corporate business are a way of doing this.
This is general information only and not legal advice.
Chris Irons Strata Solve E: chris@stratasolve.com.au P: 0419 805 898