Council invoking act to make it difficult for owners to call a special general meeting
Tony Gioventu
Province
Dear Condo Smarts: Our owners have just found out the council has overspent our annual budget by 30 per cent on frivolous items. We petitioned for a special general meeting to remove our strata council, but the property manager and council refuse to call the meeting and refuse to give us the list of owners and alternative mailing addresses.The Strata Act says they must keep these records, and they have to provide them on written request, but the property manager said the Privacy Act overrules that and they don’t have to give them to us.
We have many absentee owners, so issuing proper notice to the proper addresses is critical. Does the Privacy Act overrule the Strata Act?
— G.G., Coquitlam
Dear G.G.: The B.C. Personal Information Protection Act does not override the operational requirements of the Strata Property Act, as long as personal information of the owners, tenants and occupants that is collected by the strata is not compromised.
The Information Act does not override the section of the Strata Act regarding the mailing obligations for notice of meetings.
PIPA is very important, however, in how it relates to the collection of personal information.
That might include phone numbers, banking or credit card information, emergency contact information and strata lot insurance particulars, but it does NOT apply to contact information.
PIPA gives owners and tenants some control over their personal information by imposing rules on the collection, use and disclosure information.
Consent to collect personal information may be implied. For example, a person pays a strata fee by cheque. By providing the cheque, they have consented to the collection of that information, but not the disclosure of that information beyond the strata requirements.
Consent might also be specific. A person may consent in writing to a strata corporation collecting emergency contact information, or personal health information that might be valuable.
Another example of the collection of personal information is an owner who has made an application for an exemption from rental bylaws on the basis of hardship. That might require the provision of personal financial or related information necessary to verify the hardship.
Under PIPA, if the strata uses an individual’s personal information to make a decision, it must keep that information for at least one year after the date of that decision.
– Tony Gioventu is executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association. E-mail [email protected]. The association’s website is www.choa.bc.ca.
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