Question: I’ve repeatedly requested access to our financial records but received no response. Can our strata manager refuse my request?
Our strata manager maintains our body corporate’s financial records. I have twice requested our strata manager provide a list showing each accounting record, that is each item listed to indicate the nature of the record.
Whilst the Act makes clear each financial record which must be maintained, the wording in the act may not necessarily be the same as that used by our strata manager for our accounts. i.e. our payments register may be called something else.
I believe that this is a reasonable request for specific information from a proprietor e.g. expenditure items rather than requesting the complete general ledger.
Can the strata manager refuse the request?
Answer: It’s always reasonable to request access to information about your scheme – it is your information after all.
It’s always reasonable to request access to information about your scheme – it is your information after all. And most body corporate companies are happy to provide this. My guess is that the report you are requesting only takes a minute to download and email.
Here, though, you aren’t getting a response at all so it is worth considering why that might be and what you can do about it.
Firstly, it is possible that there is some miscommunication of some kind. Is there some reason your mails haven’t been received? Maybe the manager has sent a response, but it cycled into a junk inbox. In that case, it may be good to phone the office and ask.
Then, it’s possible that your manager/company is behind in their work and just hasn’t been able to respond. Managers and companies can struggle with the volume of requests on occasion and it can take a long time to turn things around when you start going under. If this is the case, your management company may not admit the problem to you, but you should be able to pick up on the vibes from that if you speak to the manager.
Lastly, you might want to think about whether there is a specific reason your request isn’t being responded to. Is there some kind of dispute going on? Has the manager been told not to respond to you or made an active decision not to respond? Perhaps the managers want to hide the information from you for some reason? We can only speculate, but there might be an active reason and if there is perhaps there is some form of dispute resolution that can be considered.
So what can you do? Have you checked the owner’s portal if you have one, as the information might be there? Perhaps you could reach out to a committee member who could assist. If you felt it necessary, you could arrange to do an inspection of the books and records. Managers aren’t obliged to respond to you, but they are obliged to provide you with access to the books and records via a search if you request that. If it is a question of bad service, you could write to the head of the company or start speaking to other owners about changing managers if necessary.
Work your way through the options and at some stage it should become apparent why you can’t get the communication required.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924