As more condominium corporations look for ways to improve the accuracy and efficiency of condo board minutes, one concern keeps surfacing: if we record our board meetings to prepare minutes, could an owner request that recording? At first glance, it sounds like a serious risk. In reality, it’s mostly a misunderstanding of how records work under condominium law. Once you separate what the law actually requires from what simply exists in the background, the issue becomes much clearer—and far less concerning. For how minutes fit into Ontario’s records regime, see our guide on condo board meeting minutes in Ontario and data privacy and security in AI minute-taking.
The Law Requires Minutes, Not Recordings
The Condominium Act, 1998 requires corporations to maintain minutes of board and owners’ meetings. Those minutes must be clear, accessible, and retained as part of the corporation’s official records.
What the Act does not require is just as important. There is no obligation to record meetings, store recordings, or produce them to owners. The law is focused on the final, approved written minutes, not the materials used to prepare them.
That distinction is the foundation of the entire discussion.
Not Everything Related to a Meeting Is a Record
A common assumption is that anything connected to a board meeting must automatically be a corporate record. That’s not how it works.
A records request applies to records of the corporation, not to every document or file that happens to exist. Whether something qualifies as a record depends on how it is used and treated in practice—particularly its purpose, its role in decision-making, and whether it is retained as part of the corporation’s files.
A temporary working document is fundamentally different from an official record, even if both relate to the same meeting.
A Recording Used to Prepare Minutes Is Just a Tool
When a meeting is recorded solely to prepare condo board minutes, the recording plays a very limited role. It is not reviewed by the board, not relied upon for decisions, and not preserved as part of the corporation’s records. It simply exists to help produce an accurate draft.
In substance, this is no different from traditional practices that have always existed. Managers take notes, recording secretaries rely on shorthand, and draft documents are created and discarded as part of the process. The presence of an audio file does not change the nature of that workflow—it just makes it more precise.
Once the minutes are prepared, the recording has served its purpose.
Ownership Does Not Make Something a Record
Another source of confusion is the idea that if a corporation owns something, it must be a record that can be requested.
Ownership and record status are not the same thing.
Corporations routinely own materials that are not treated as records for disclosure purposes. Legal advice is protected. Draft consultant reports are not final records. Internal notes and working papers are not disclosed simply because they exist. Even security footage, while owned by the corporation, is not treated as a governance record.
What matters is not ownership, but whether the material is retained, relied upon, and integrated into the corporation’s affairs. A recording used only to prepare minutes does none of those things.
The Real Issue Is Control and Retention
If there is any risk at all, it does not come from the existence of a recording. It comes from how that recording is handled.
A recording starts to look like a corporate record only when it is:
- stored by the corporation,
- accessible to directors or management,
- retained for ongoing reference, or
- used to support decisions.
Remove those elements, and the concern largely disappears. A recording that is never retained, never accessed, and never relied upon is very difficult to characterize as a corporate record in any meaningful sense.
This is why a simple, consistent process matters far more than the technology itself.
What About Recordings on a Phone?
Boards often worry about a director or manager recording a meeting on a personal device. The concern is understandable, but in practice the same principles apply.
If the recording is made solely to assist in preparing minutes and is deleted once that task is complete, it functions as a temporary working aid. It is no different from handwritten notes that are later discarded.
The situation only changes if the recording is kept, shared, or relied upon. At that point, it begins to take on the characteristics of a retained document. But when it is used briefly and then deleted, it remains what it was intended to be: a tool, not a record.
Can Someone Demand the Audio Anyway?
This is where the concern tends to drift into unrealistic territory.
An owner can request access to records that the corporation maintains. They cannot demand access to materials the corporation does not have, does not retain, and cannot access.
They also cannot compel a director to unlock a personal phone or produce a private recording outside of a formal legal process. Moving from a routine records request to that kind of scenario would require litigation and a court order—something far beyond the normal scope of condominium governance.
In practical terms, that is not how records requests play out.
A Simple Process Eliminates the Concern
Boards do not need complicated legal strategies to address this issue. A straightforward approach is enough:
- recordings are used only to prepare draft minutes;
- they are not stored in the corporation’s records;
- they are not accessible to the board;
- they are deleted after a short period; and
- only the final, approved minutes are retained.
Many boards also adopt a short resolution confirming this process, which helps document intent and ensures consistency.
Once these elements are in place, the concern becomes largely theoretical.
Why This Concern Is Overblown
In day-to-day condominium operations, records requests focus on meaningful governance documents—financial statements, contracts, and approved minutes. They are not aimed at temporary working materials that were never intended to be preserved.
The idea that someone will request raw audio recordings is not impossible, but it is highly unlikely. More importantly, when the recordings are not retained or controlled by the corporation, there is nothing to produce in the first place.
The Bottom Line
The Condominium Act requires accurate and accessible condo board minutes. It does not require recordings, and it does not treat temporary working tools as official records.
When recordings are used only to prepare minutes, are not retained or accessible, and are deleted after use, they remain exactly what they were intended to be: a practical aid to accuracy.
And once that purpose is fulfilled, they are no longer part of the picture.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. While it reflects practical considerations based on common condominium governance practices, each situation may differ. Condominium corporations should consult their legal counsel for advice specific to their circumstances.