What Condo Records Can You Request as an Owner in Ontario?

Most Ontario condo owners never ask for their corporation's records, and most of the ones who do find out halfway through that there is a process, a form, and a clock. This guide covers what you're entitled to, how to ask, and what it can cost. It's Ontario law only; other provinces work differently.

Who can ask, and for what

Section 55(3) of the Condominium Act, 1998 gives an owner, a purchaser, or a mortgagee of a unit, or an agent they authorize in writing, the right to examine or get copies of the corporation's records. You don't have to explain why (O. Reg. 48/01, s. 13.3(2)), though the request has to relate to your interests as an owner, purchaser or mortgagee.

The corporation has to keep "adequate records", including its financial records, minutes of board and owners' meetings, the declaration, by-laws and rules, all reserve fund studies and funding plans, all agreements it has signed, and more (s. 55(1)). The regulation adds warranties, engineering reports, drawings and plans, insurance policies and several other categories (O. Reg. 48/01, s. 13.1(1)).

What you can't get, under s. 55(4) and s. 13.11 of the regulation:

• records about employees, except employment contracts
• records about actual or contemplated litigation, or insurance investigations
• records about other specific units or owners (records about your own unit, and about you, are available to you under s. 55(5))
• owners' email addresses, lawyers' opinions about specific units, and the parts of ballots and proxies that identify units or owners (unless a by-law says otherwise)

Core records vs. non-core records

The single most useful distinction in the whole process. Core records are defined in section 1 of O. Reg. 48/01, and they're faster and cheaper to get:

| Core records | Non-core records (everything else) | | --- | --- | | Declaration, by-laws and rules | The reserve fund study itself | | Record of owners and mortgagees; record of leased units | Board minutes older than 12 months | | Periodic information certificates from the last 12 months | Contracts and agreements (other than mutual use agreements) | | Current year's budget, with any amendments | Invoices and other financial records | | Most recent approved financial statements and auditor's report | Engineering reports, warranties, drawings and plans | | The current plan for future funding of the reserve fund | Insurance policies | | Mutual use (shared facilities) agreements | Records about your own unit | | Minutes of board and owners' meetings from the last 12 months | |

Notice that the reserve fund study is non-core, even though the board's funding plan built from it is core. If you want the study, ask for it by name in the non-core section.

How to ask: the mandatory form

You must use the CAO's Request for Records form (O. Reg. 48/01, s. 13.3(3)). The CAO calls this crucial because submitting it "starts a legal timer for your condo corporation" (CAO, Ask for records). A letter or an email on its own doesn't start that clock.

The form has three parts: who you are, a checklist of core records (each with an electronic or paper choice), and free-text rows for non-core records with a date range. Deliver it by mail, courier, or the corporation's mailbox, or by email only if the board has passed a resolution accepting email (s. 13.3(4)).

A small mistake on the form isn't fatal. In one of the Tribunal's first decisions, Arrowsmith v. Peel Condominium Corporation No. 94, 2018 ONCAT 10, the corporation refused because the form wasn't properly completed. The Tribunal held that an incomplete form is not a reasonable excuse as long as the request is clear, ordered the records provided at no cost, and awarded $500 in costs and a $500 penalty.

If you'd rather not work through the form cold, our free records request builder walks through it box by box, writes a covering letter, and calculates your deadlines. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

The clock

| Step | Deadline | Where it comes from | | --- | --- | --- | | Board's response, on its own mandatory form | 30 days after it receives your request | O. Reg. 48/01, s. 13.3(6) | | Electronic copies of core records | With the response (same 30 days) | ss. 13.4(1), 13.6(1) | | Paper copies of core records | 7 days after you return the response and pay | ss. 13.4(2), 13.6(2), (4) | | Non-core records | 30 days after you return the response and pay | ss. 13.5, 13.7 | | Your deadline to pay, or apply to the Tribunal | 60 days after you receive the response | s. 13.10(1) | | Your deadline to apply to the Tribunal if there's no answer | 6 months after you delivered the request | s. 13.10(2) |

The last two rows are the ones owners miss. If you let 60 days pass after the board's response without paying or applying to the Condominium Authority Tribunal, the request is deemed abandoned and you start over.

What it costs

Section 13.3(8) of the regulation sets the rules:

• Core records, electronic copy: free.
• Core records, paper copy: no more than 20 cents a page. If you asked for electronic copies and the corporation only keeps the record on paper, the paper copy is free.
• Examining a core record in person: only actual labour during the examination, plus any copying.
• Non-core records: a reasonable estimate of actual labour and delivery costs, and the fee itself must be reasonable. The board's response has to tell you the fee before you pay anything.

What the board's answer must contain

The response has to list every record you asked for and, for each one, say whether it's a core record, whether the corporation will provide it, and what it will cost. For anything it won't provide or will redact, it must give a written reason and the provision of section 55 or the regulation it relies on (s. 13.3(7)). A response that simply says no, or goes silent, is where the Tribunal comes in. Our guide on what to do when the board won't give you records covers that path.

Where maintenance records fit

Most of what owners want to know about the building itself, what's been serviced, when, by whom, and what it cost, lives in non-core records: service contracts, invoices, engineering reports, warranties, and the reserve fund study. Our guide to the maintenance records your condo should have lists them and explains how long the corporation has to keep each one.

This is general information about Ontario law, not legal advice. Check the linked legislation and the CAO's guidance for your situation, and speak to a condo lawyer or licensed paralegal before relying on it in a dispute.