Dear Tony: What happens when a strata corporation breaches private information?
Our strata council has developed a chronic habit of dealing with monthly council business through email, and this has now created a serious problem.
One of our owners made an application to the council for a hardship exemption from our rental bylaws. The council requested that the owners provide copies of their personal financial records to verify the hardship circumstances.
Unfortunately one of the emails containing the personal information was sent in error to the complete owners list, and now we have a serious privacy breach along with claims from the owner.
We are concerned about being sued, and also the other owners in our strata are now challenging the information provided by the owners making the application and are urging council members to not grant the hardship application.
Karen D.R.,
North Vancouver
Dear Karen: Email as a communication and decision making tool has presented us with opportunities to make quick informal decisions. At the same time, use of email has exposed our strata corporations to some significant liabilities.
Before any strata council considers a dialogue or a decision making process by email, they must remember a few facts and truths about email.
Email is not a confidential form of communication. As soon as one party chooses to distribute information, or information is accidentally forwarded to another party, or your email accounts are breached, the information within the context of your strata business is now public information.
While each council member may have their own designated email address, you as the council cannot control who has access to the member’s account and who is reading the email.
The bylaws of strata corporations generally do not permit strata councils to convene meetings by email, and all of the emails in transaction with council members are part of the correspondence of the strata corporation and subject to request and access.
Certainly council members find they have to reach consensus on issues in between meetings, and may have to agree to a decision. Those decisions, however, should be ratified at the subsequent council meeting and included in the minutes.
With the many resort properties across B.C. that are strata titled, email has become a convenient method to communicate for absentee council members, but the email does not replace a properly convened council meeting.
Council meetings enable debate and discussion as well as owner attendance and participation, which are a significant part of the strata decision making process.
The Standard Bylaws do not permit a person to participate as an observer in a meeting where a matter is addressing a hardship application, bylaw enforcement or a matter that requires the protection of an individual’s privacy.
As a result, those matters should never be discussed or documented on email, because the strata council could easily find they have breached the privacy rights of an owner or tenant.
Your email to me is a good example of how to address a question in a generic form, without breaching any personal information or identifying individuals.
Bylaw enforcement, hardship exemptions and personal privacy matters are best addressed only in the environment of a properly convened council meeting. After all, these matters require a vote to determine the outcome.
Strata corporations that follow the Strata Property Act, Regulations and their bylaws have fewer disputes and fewer complaints that consume the time and resources of the strata corporation.
Before this becomes a greater problem, contact your lawyer and the owner involved and determine how this matter can be quickly resolved.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association. Send questions to tony@choa.bc.ca