Records
Step 2. Ask for records
Your first step should always be to check if the corporation is already sharing a record with you either through the corporation’s website, a shared drive, an email they have sent you previously, or a condo management portal.
Still couldn’t find what you need? Let’s look at your next steps.
Make sure you have the right contact
Before you go further, make sure you have your condo corporation’s correct contact information. Use our condo registry to find out who is on your corporation’s board and who is the manager. You can also reach out to your board of directors instead. You may find that you will get what you need as soon as you reach out to the correct individual.
Submit a request to your condo corporation
You can submit a request for records to your condo corporation by:
- Courier
- Placing it in the condo’s mailbox
- Fax or email – if the corporation accepts it this way
You must use this mandatory form to request records! This is crucial, as doing this starts a legal timer for your condo corporation.
Wait for a response
Your board must respond using their own mandatory Board’s Response to Request for Records form. Their response must include:
- A description of each requested record, including whether its core or non-core
- If the board will provide the records, and if not, why.
- How access will be provided
- What costs you will have to pay to get records, if applicable.
How long will I have to wait?
You must give your corporation 30 days to respond to your request. This timer begins as soon as you submit your request for records form to your condo corporation.
What to do if you’re unsatisfied
You can try to write to your corporation one final time to try to get what you need. Don’t rely on AI slop that hallucinates incorrect information! Use these templates instead:
What if my corporation still doesn’t respond or refuses to give me records?
You have six months since you first submitted your records request to your corporation to file a case with the Condominium Authority Tribunal and compel them to give you records. Your records request could be deemed abandoned if you do not file a case with the CAT within six months, which would mean you would have to start over by submitting another records request form to your condo corporation.
What if the corporation is asking me too much for records?
You have 60 days from when you receive their response to file a case with the Condominium Authority Tribunal and dispute the charge.
What if I got records but I find them to be incomplete or inadequate?
You can file a case with the Condominium Authority Tribunal to dispute the adequacy of the record you received as long as the adequacy issue happened within the last two years.
Adequacy is dependent on the type of record you are seeking and can be challenging to establish definitively. Records may be considered inadequate if:
- They are incomplete
- They are inaccurate
- Corporations are legally required to keep them but aren’t.
Review past decisions and orders of the Tribunal to see how adequacy can be determined for cases similar to what you are experiencing.
Here’s some common examples:
I figured out what I need after getting and reviewing records, but remain unsatisfied with how my corporation is being governed.
This is a separate issue and currently it is outside the jurisdiction of the Condominium Authority Tribunal. The Condominium Authority of Ontario can instead guide you through several options you can consider:
