The strata roll and the Privacy Act 1998
Requesting access to the Strata Roll
We frequently hear that owners within a scheme are denied access to the info on the strata roll due to the "Privacy Act"
This topic has been discussed at length within the industry and on Strata discussion websites such as "Flatchat". They have an informative post that outlines some legal points here.
What about email addresses?
More than 90% of owners provide an email address as a preferred contact method, but the roll info in the Act does not specifically mention emails. Therefore, many people have interpreted this to state that owners may only be provided with the name of the owner and the address for service.
However, most people use email and don't want to send a letter to a number of other owners as it's expensive and it takes a long time to reach the recipients.
This topic was the focus of a recent SAT case. An owner in a large scheme wanted to communicate with other owners about strata-related matters. SAT ordered that if people had provided email addresses as their chosen "address for service", it is reasonable that another owner should be provided with the email address. It is assumed that the requesting party will only use the information to discuss issues related to the scheme and not for any other purpose.
Summary
To summarise this, if an owner within a scheme makes a formal request to view/make a copy of the Strata Roll and pays a prescribed charge (the Strata Company can only charge up to $1) then they must be provided with access which includes email addresses where they have been provided.
To quote from the Makinson & d’Apice letter posted on the Flatchat site "So, in summary, it cannot be an offence for an owner to access the strata roll and obtain the names and addresses of all of the owners of lots in the strata schemes. Similarly, it cannot be an offence for owners in a strata scheme to communicate directly with other owners about matters that concern, or should concern, other owners in the strata scheme".