Part 16 published on 01/11/06
Small claims court properly authorized by Condominium Act to order production of records
The owner wished to organize a requisitioned meeting. For this purpose, the owner requested access to the corporation’s record of owners’ names and addresses. The corporation refused, citing privacy law.
The Court began by ruling that the requested record (the list of owners’ names and addresses) does not fall within the exceptions set out in section 55(4) of the Condominium Act, 1998, and that the owner was accordingly entitled to examine that record.
The Court went on to consider whether or not the Small Claims Court truly has authority to order production of records as indicated in section 55(10) of the Act. The Court held that it can order production of records (i.e. the Small Claims Court can make this sort of “mandatory injunction order”) in that section 55(10) of the Act is permitted by section 96(3) of the Courts of Justice Act.
The Court said, however, that it would not order production of the record until it had determined that the record had been withheld without reasonable excuse in accordance with Section 55 (10). This question would have to be decided at a trial.