What are the statutory or regulatory controls on storage of strata scheme records?

Q: Our committee autocratically adopted a cloud-based information management system. Are there any statutory or regulatory controls on the storage of strata records?
Our strata committee has autocratically adopted a cloud-based information management system for strata data/ information. They self-elected the office bearers as the moderators/administrators. The decision was not voted on, owners were not advised, and the administrators were self-elected. Are there any statutory or regulatory controls on the storage of strata records? We already have the strata manager’s system and strata information filing software.

A: The owners corporation may pass a resolution at a general meeting that the management and storage of the scheme’s records are to be managed as deemed appropriate, subject to the relevant legislative provisions, by the owners corporation.

An owners corporation is required to retain certain information, including the content of the strata roll, notices given by or to the owners corporation under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (the Act) and various items listed under Section 180 of the Act including minutes of meetings, financial statements and records, and agreements entered with strata managers and building managers. The records are required to be kept for 7 years (Section 180 of the Act).

In 2023, there was an amendment to the Act which stated the records required to be kept by an owners corporation must be kept in electronic form (Section 176 of the Act). This amendment does not apply to records created or kept 6 months before this amendment was made, and does not prevent a duplicate copy of the records being kept in another form. The strata records are the property of the owners corporation, and the owners corporation has the responsibility for keeping the records for the strata scheme (Section 9(3)(b) of the Act). The strata manager and the strata committee may assist the owners corporation in carrying out its management functions (Section 11 of the Act).

A decision of the strata committee is taken to be a decision of the owners corporation. However, in the event of disagreement, a decision of the owners corporation prevails (Section 36(2) of the Act). The decision in the question raised regarding the management of the strata records is a decision of a strata committee only. Therefore, if an owners corporation is concerned about the records being held in a management system controlled by the strata committee, the owners corporation may pass a resolution at a general meeting that the management and storage of the scheme’s records are to be managed as deemed appropriate, subject to the relevant legislative provisions, by the owners corporation.

I have not addressed any privacy issues that may arise from members of the strata committee holding the strata scheme’s records without consent.

This article by NSW Partner Gerard Doyle first appeared in the LookUpStrata Pty Ltd NSW Strata Magazine September 2024.

© Bugden Allen Group Legal Pty Ltd. All information contained in this article is of a general nature only and you should obtain specific legal advice in relation to any property-related affairs on any of the topics mentioned.