This article is about the requirements to disclose owner contact details.
There are many occasions when an owner may wish to contact all other owners. I will not discuss those occasions in this article.
In Western Australia, strata ownership is governed by the Strata Titles Act 1985 and other Acts and Regulations, which may be State or Federal. Bound by this legislation, what are the requirements to disclose owner contact details?
Strata Title Act 1985 – by the numbers:
Section 104 – Records and correspondence
Section 104 comprehensively lists the records to be kept, including, but not limited to, minutes of meetings, books of account, resolutions, correspondence, the strata management contract, insurance contract, infrastructure contract, and so on.
Section 105 – Roll to be kept by the Strata Company
Section 105 stresses the requirement of the strata company to “prepare and maintain a roll”, how the roll may be kept, and the details required to be collected.
Now we know that, in WA, the roll can be kept in paper or electronic form and the details recorded. I note, in particular for the benefit of this article, Subsection (4)(c) “the name and address for service of the owner of each lot”. This information is part of the strata company records.
What fees MAY be payable?
You would also need to refer to the Strata Titles (General) Regulations 2019
Reg 86 – Fees for applications under s. 107
Reg 86 lists the fees that may be charged for applications to search for information under a particular section of the Act.
Reg 87 – Inspection of material
Reg 87 specifies the conditions on how the records may be conducted.
Section 106 – Address for service if no roll maintained in 2, 3, 4 or 5-lot scheme.
Section 106 deals with the 2 to 5-lot schemes, where an exemption by-law may be registered that exempts the owners from having meetings, minutes, levies, and accounts.
Section 107 – Application by person with proper interest in information
Section 107 outlines who can request information about a strata scheme and what information they can access.
Section 108 – Contact information
Section 108 explains the requirement for strata companies to give out the names and addresses of a council member and an officer to anyone who asks for it. If a strata company doesn’t provide this information within 14 days of being asked, they can be fined $3,000. This section ensures that people can easily contact the right people within a strata company if they need to.
Section 109 – Inspection of material
Section 109 details what can be searched. From this section, we can see that the roll kept under Section 105 is allowed to be searched.
What about the Commonwealth Privacy Act?
The Commonwealth Privacy Act does not prevent access to lot owner details. This law only applies to organisations that earn more than $3 million annually or handle personal information for commercial purposes. Most strata schemes do not meet these criteria. Therefore, using privacy as a reason to deny access to lot owner information is not justified under the Commonwealth Privacy Act.
We are talking about contact information – there may be some owners who do have a phone number, but it is silent, or they don’t want it disclosed.
I am unaware of any specific SAT cases about this, but the Act requires that all owners must be contactable. If they live overseas, they must have an email address where they can be contacted (Section 215 – 216).
Shane White
Strata Title Consult
E: shane.white@stratatitleconsult.com.au
This post appears in the August 2024 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.
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