Ontario Court Declares That Owners Email Addresses Are Not Condominium Records

Condo corporations are increasingly asked to disclose to condo owners the email addresses of the other owners.  After all, since the corporation is often communicating with its owners by email, why should all owners not have access to this same list?

In a recent case, Wu v. CCC 383, a condominium unit owner sued the condominium corporation after the corporation refused to provide the owner with the e-mail addresses of all of the unit owners. The owner claimed that the corporation had breached its obligations under Section 55 (examination of records) of the Condominium Act, 1998.

The judge ruled that condo owners are not entitled to access the email address list of other owners.  He concluded that email addresses not part of the owners’ address for service and therefore not part of the records of the corporation.

Read more about this issue and the court’s ruling at Lash Condo Law’s - Court Declares That Owners’ E-Mail Addresses Are Not Condominium Records, Gowling’s Condo Advisor - Are Condo Owners Entitled to Access the Email Address List of Other Owners?,  and Nelligan|O’Brien|Payne’s Condo Law News - Is An Owner's Email Address Part of Their Address for Service?

This Ontario court decision provides the condominium industry with some helpful clarification regarding email addresses and record-keeping. Specifically, a unit owner’s email address that is held in a condominium corporation’s records is not to be disclosed as part of the owner’s address for service.