Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts: I made an application to my strata council in October for a hardship exemption from the strata rental bylaws. The strata council requested that I provide them with personal financial information as a condition of the application. I agreed, provided them with original documents, and requested a hearing. They have refused my hardship request — and to make matters worse my personal financial information has leaked out to fellow owners in the building. The council admitted that they had their meeting to decide the application by e-mail, and scanned and shared my information in the e-mails. Those e-mails somehow managed to get into the hands of our resident busybody, and now everyone knows my personal business. Is there anyone who regulates the business of strata councils?
Dear WR: Strata corporations are self-regulated under the Strata Property Act. Disputes and enforcement of the act, regulations and bylaws are resolved either consensually by the parties, through mediation, arbitration or the courts in
— WR, Prince George
B.C. Strata corporations must also comply with every other enactment of law. In your situation, you may consider filing a complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner @ oipc.bc.ca.
Strata councils must exercise great care and caution with e-mails and electronic meetings, especially when handling any personal information of owners. It may seem efficient to share information by e-mail, msn, or a conference call to make a quick decision, but there is one serious flaw in the process: No one really knows who else is at the other end of the phone, computer or blackberry.
Most strata bylaws do not permit council decisions and meetings by e-mail. Even if they do, there are a number of issues such as bylawviolation hearings, hardship application hearings and the discussion of personal or confidential information that should never be transmitted electronically unless your strata council is absolutely certain there is no risk of a security breach.
Remember, once you’ve hit the send button, you can’t take it back.
