Dear Condo Smarts: Our strata corporation is a very large development that includes 11 buildings and sections for both commercial and residential use.
As you can imagine, the strata council routinely addresses issues that relate to confidentiality and security, or issues where a legal opinion needs to be protected in the interest of our corporation.
Over the years, we have appointed privacy officers to address the confidential information. Some have been council members and last year, we had our property manager acting as our privacy officer. This year, we had a council member who volunteered for the job of privacy officer, with disastrous results.
The privacy officer has essentially prevented all information being distributed to council members, so even if we have a letter requesting a hardship application, we are not allowed to see the letter or know the information provided. We are told this is the role of the privacy officer, to ensure confidential information is protected.
Is there some type of job description of the role of a privacy officer?
Karen Fraser
Dear Karen: The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has published an information bulletin on the obligations of a strata corporation to protect privacy and personal information.
Common personal information that strata corporations manage includes: names, addresses and phone numbers, banking or credit information, emergency contacts, insurance particulars, debt collection and vehicle information.
In brief, strata corporations have an obligation to tell owners and tenants what information they collect and retain, how they manage it, who is responsible to protect it and how their information is accessed.
The strata corporation is the entity that collects and manages the personal information, and the privacy officer is the person responsible for ensuring a strata corporation's privacy policy and procedures are being followed.
The strata council members are the legal representatives of the strata corporation, and while they are required to appoint a privacy officer, they do not surrender their access or requirement to access the information.
The strata council conducts business at council meetings and executes decisions by majority vote. It would be impossible for a strata council to competently address bylaw com-plaints, hardship applications or correspondence that dealt with personal information unless the council members had direct access to that information.
The council members, as the representatives of the strata corporation, are always bound by the requirements of the privacy legislation.
Remember that if a bylaw complaint or information involves a dispute relating to a council member, that council member has to remove himself or herself from the council decision-making process.
It is important to understand that the Personal Information Protection Act does not override the Strata Property Act.
It's the protection and management of the personal information that is critical. For example, if an owner or tenant requests a copy of the owners' list, the strata corporation must provide a copy of the list.
However, the privacy officer must ensure that phone numbers and emergency contact/personal information is not included on the list.
The information bulletin is a great starting place for strata corporations. It is available at www.choa.bc.ca (select Articles and Bulletins), or go to oipc.bc.ca.
Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners' Association. Send questions to him c/o At Home, Times Colonist, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8W 2N4 or email [email protected]. The association's website is www.choa.bc.ca.
