30/04/2025– Jurisdiction Ontario
Part 90 published on 01/06/2025
Owner not entitled to go on “fishing expedition” for records. Owner entitled to see complaints against owner, subject to appropriate redacting.
The owner had requested various records. The Tribunal held that the owner was not entitled to a large number of the records identified in the Request for Records, but that the owner was entitled to some of the requested records.
Among other things, the Tribunal held as follows:
Some of the owner’s requests constituted “fishing expeditions”, and the Corporation was therefore not obligated to provide those requested records. The Tribunal provided the following definition of a “fishing expedition”: Casting a wide and imprecise net in the hopes of discovering some anticipated but unspecified issues or errors that might or might not exist.
The Tribunal held, however, that the owner was entitled to receive complaints relating to the owner’s unit from December 20, 2017, to February 10, 2024, and the “Investigative report findings” for her unit, from January 1, 2019, to February 10, 2024. The Tribunal said:
Although the periods of years covered in these requests are broad, the fact that these records relate directly to the Applicant’s own unit gives them a more narrow and precise focus and makes it reasonable that she should have, and want to have, copies of them. The same fact also means that they should be readily identifiable by the Respondent. During this hearing the Applicant also explained that the investigative reports she seeks are, more specifically, “documentation justifying the charges added to my [common expense] account in the absence of a court order or judgement,” which may serve to further narrow the scope of the Respondent’s production of relevant records.
The Tribunal therefore ordered the Corporation to provide these records, “subject to appropriate redactions in accordance with subsection 55 (4) of the Act” (the Condominium Act, 1998). The Tribunal went on to say that: The Respondent will need to determine whether and what bases for redaction apply and will need to provide the Applicant with the statements required under subsection 13.8 (1) of Ont. Reg. 48/01 when delivering this set of records to the Applicant.
Jalbout v. Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 272, 2025 ONCAT 70, Record