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Can condo owners access email exchanges between board members?

In most cases, records of a condo corporation are expected to be part of an open book, accessible by owners. But does this right to examine records of the corporation extend to email exchanges between board members?

In this blog post, we explore 3 cases on this issue with different lessons.

Emails referred to in minutes

A case that addressed this question is Kai Sin Yeung. In this case, a unit owner asked to access email correspondence between board members about renewing a gas contract. These emails were mentioned in the corporation’s meeting minutes, which stated that the contract renewal had been “approved by the Board via e-mail.”

The corporation denied the request, claiming that the emails did not exist and, even if they did, they would not qualify as official “records of the corporation” under section 55 of the Condo Act. Part of the confusion may have stemmed from the fact that it was not clear how the gas contract was actually approved: by email or at a board meeting.

The Condominium Authority Tribunal addressed the matter, emphasising that the Act does not require a corporation to keep a record of informal discussions – whether oral or through email – between board members. The tribunal noted that if the board had attached the emails to the meeting minutes as a formal schedule, they might have qualified as records. However, the Tribunal held that “reference to the Emails in the Minutes is insufficient to qualify the Emails as records of the Respondent.”

When emails form part of minutes

In 2024, another case, Puxty, provided further clarity. Here, a unit owner believed board members were discussing contracts via email and requested copies of those emails.

The Tribunal cited the Kai Sin decision, reiterating that “emails between directors do not form a record to which owners are entitled.” The Tribunal stated that unless emails are formally approved by the board as part of meeting minutes, they do not qualify as records under the Act. Without such evidence, the applicant in this case was also denied access to the requested emails.

Sometimes emails do constitute a record

The previous cases do not establish a blanket rule that emails can never be considered records of a corporation under the Act. In fact, the Comtois case provides an important distinction.

In that case, one of the records requested by a unit owner was orders and emails from the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario (“CMRAO”) issued to the corporation. The corporation argued that CMRAO, which regulates the management industry, does not oversee the activities of the condominium corporations or their boards and, as such, any related documentation, including emails, would not form part of the records the corporation is required to keep.

The Tribunal rejected this argument and noted that “the affairs of the corporation should be an open book to unit owners,” and that includes understanding complaints against management companies and how the board deals with them. In this case, the Tribunal ruled that CMRAO orders resulting from complaints involving the management company and emails to board members about such orders were records that a condo corporation was required to keep and the unit owner was entitled to access them.

Another important distinction perhaps is the fact that the email sought to be disclosed were emails sent to management and to the Corporation by the CAO and the CMRAO.  This is not comparable to emails being exchanged between directors.

Lessons learned

  • Emails between board members are generally not considered records under the Act.
  • A unit owner may be entitled to emails between board members if there is evidence of emails being approved by the board as part of meeting minutes or if actually attached to the minutes.
  • There is no blanket rule shielding emails from being records, but this does not change the overall principle that emails between board members are not typically considered records.

Related blog post

Here are some interesting related blog posts: