Land Title Practice Manual

36 Access To Records

In This Volume

  • 36 (1) On receiving a request, the strata corporation must make the records and documents referred to in section 35 available for inspection by, and provide copies of them to,
  • (a) an owner,
  • (b) a tenant who, under section 147 or 148, has been assigned a landlord’s right to inspect and obtain copies of records and documents, or
  • (c) a person authorized in writing by an owner or tenant referred to in paragraph (a) or (b).
  • (1.1) On receiving a request from a former owner, from a former tenant referred to in subsection (1)(b) or from a person authorized in writing by the former owner or former tenant, the strata corporation must, with respect to records and documents referred to in section 35 that, whenever created, relate to the period during which the former owner or former tenant was an owner or tenant, make those records and documents available for inspection by, and provide copies of them to, the former owner, former tenant or person authorized in writing, as the case may be.
  • (2) On receiving the request of a tenant, or a person authorized in writing by a tenant, the strata corporation must
  • (a) make the bylaws and rules available for inspection, and
  • (b) provide copies of the bylaws and rules.
  • (3) The strata corporation must comply with a request under subsection (1), (1.1) or (2) within 2 weeks unless the request is in respect of bylaws or rules, in which case the strata corporation must comply with the request within one week.
  • (4) The strata corporation may charge a fee for a copy of a record or document provided under this section of not more than the amount set out in the regulations and may refuse to supply the copy until the fee is paid.

1998-43-36, effective July 1, 2000 (B.C. Reg. 43/2000); 2009-17-8, effective December 11, 2009 (B.C. Reg. 312/2009).

REGULATIONS AND FEES

See s. 4.2(1) of the Strata Property Regulation, B.C. Reg. 43/2000, at chapter 59 (Strata Property Regulations), regarding the maximum fee that the strata corporation may charge for a copy of a record or document provided under s. 36 of the Act. Section 4.2(2) of the regulation provides that no fee may be charged to an owner, tenant, or person authorized by an owner or tenant for inspection of a record or document under s. 36 of the Act.

CASE LAW

Solicitor-client Privilege Continues after Completion of Litigation Despite Statutory Provisions

The Court of Appeal set aside both the order of the judge below and the order of the Civil Resolution Tribunal on the basis that the Strata Property Act cannot be interpreted to abrogate solicitor-client privilege, given that ss. 35(2) and 36 do not contain explicit and unequivocal language evincing an intention to do so; as a result, the appellate court dismissed the appellant’s application for production of legal opinions pursuant to s. 169(1)(b) [Limit on owner’s responsibility for costs]. The order that was set aside required that legal opinions regarding contemplated or ongoing disputes between the strata corporation, and an owner cannot be disclosed to any owner until the litigation has been fully resolved and all avenues of appeal spent, and that once the opinions are disclosed, the receiving owner cannot disclose them to anyone else (Mitchinson v. Strata Plan VR 1120, 2024 BCCA 89).