Condo Board Refuses Access to the Register: Your Remedies

Quick answer: in Quebec, every co-owner has the right to consult the syndicate's register and the documents kept available to the co-owners, in the presence of a director or a person designated by the board, at reasonable hours, and to obtain a copy for reasonable fees (article 1070.1 CCQ). The Code lists no ground for refusal: the board of directors can set the terms of the consultation and, where needed, redact certain personal information, but it cannot refuse access to the register outright.

This is the question that draws the most reaction in Quebec co-owner groups. A co-owner asks for the financial statements, the contracts or the contingency fund study, and the board says no, sometimes adding that its lawyer agrees. Elsewhere, the management company passes the buck to the board, or the documents promised on an online platform never arrive.

This article is for the co-owner facing that refusal. It answers five questions in order: what the syndicate must keep, what you may consult, how to make the request, what the board may legitimately limit, and what you can do if it still refuses, including when going to court is out of reach. It assumes a condominium with a single syndicate. In a phased condominium, each syndicate keeps its own register, and you have a right of consultation in each syndicate you belong to.

What the syndicate must keep

Article 1070 CCQ requires the syndicate to keep « à la disposition des copropriétaires », available to the co-owners, a register that contains in particular:

the name and postal address of each co-owner;
the minutes of the meetings of the co-owners and of the board of directors, and written resolutions;
the by-laws of the immovable and their amendments;
the financial statements;
the declaration of co-ownership and copies of the contracts to which the syndicate is a party;
the cadastral plan, the plans and specifications of the building and the certificates of location if available;
the maintenance logbook and the contingency fund study (étude du fonds de prévoyance);
all other documents and information relating to the immovable and the syndicate.

The last category is broad. The Code does not limit the register to a closed list of official documents: what concerns the building or the syndicate belongs in it, in principle.

What you have the right to consult

Article 1070.1 CCQ settles consultation in two sentences. Consultation of the register and of the documents kept available to the co-owners must be possible in the presence of a director or of a person designated for that purpose by the board of directors, at reasonable hours and in the manner provided for in the by-laws of the immovable. And every co-owner is entitled, on payment of reasonable fees, to obtain a copy of the content of the register and of those documents.

Three practical consequences follow.

The right belongs to every co-owner. You do not need to be a director, and you do not need to justify your request.
Fees apply to copies. The Code allows the syndicate to charge reasonable fees for a copy. It provides for none for consultation alone.
Terms are not a refusal. The board can set an appointment, require a director to be present, or apply the terms in the by-laws. It cannot turn those terms into a permanent refusal.

The same article lets the government set other conditions or limitations by regulation. The 2025 regulation (Order in Council 991-2025) covers the maintenance logbook, the contingency fund study, the syndicate certificate and deposits; it sets no terms for consulting the register.

What about contractor quotes? This is the most debated question. An accepted quote becomes a contract, and « copies de contrats auxquels le syndicat est partie », copies of contracts to which the syndicate is a party, are part of the register (article 1070 CCQ). Quotes that were not retained are not named by the Code: they fall under the category of documents and information relating to the immovable and the syndicate, whose wording does not exclude them, but the question is not expressly settled. One thing is certain for the annual meeting: its notice must include a note on the essential terms of any proposed contract and any planned work (article 1087 CCQ).

What you receive without asking

Before making any request, check what the syndicate must already send you.

Document	Deadline	Article
Minutes of every board decision and every written board resolution	30 days	article 1086.1 CCQ
Minutes of every co-owners' meeting and every written resolution of the assembly	30 days	article 1102.1 CCQ
Balance sheet, statement of income, statement of debts and claims, budget forecast, note on proposed contracts and planned work	With the notice of the annual meeting	article 1087 CCQ

A board that does not send its minutes within 30 days is breaching an obligation separate from the right of consultation. Naming both in your request makes it stronger.

How to make the request so it counts

The Code prescribes no form and no response deadline. A well-made request still leaves little room for refusal, and it will serve as evidence if the matter goes further.

Write to the board of directors, not only to the manager. The obligation rests on the syndicate (article 1070 CCQ). If a management company holds the documents, it does so on the syndicate's behalf, and the syndicate remains responsible.
Name the documents. "The 2025 financial statements, the current management contract and the contingency fund study" works better than "all documents".
Cite article 1070.1 CCQ and propose two or three consultation times at reasonable hours.
Request copies separately, specifying the format (a digital copy generally costs less to produce than a paper one) and asking for the fees in advance.
Set a response date and keep proof of sending.

If the board replies that its lawyer approves the refusal, ask in writing which article it relies on. The syndicate's lawyer advises the syndicate; that opinion does not change the text of article 1070.1.

What the board may legitimately limit

The Code lists no exceptions, but three limits are defensible.

The terms. Reasonable hours, presence of a director, terms set in the by-laws of the immovable (article 1070.1 CCQ).
Other people's personal information. The register contains each co-owner's name and postal address; other personal information appears in it only if the person expressly consents (article 1070 CCQ). When a document contains information about another co-owner, privacy protection may justify redacting part of it. It does not, in principle, justify withholding the whole document.
Copy fees, if they are reasonable.

Other documents raise questions the Code does not expressly settle, such as a legal opinion the syndicate obtained in a dispute. If the board raises a reason of that kind, ask it to state it in writing and to hand over the rest.

Your remedies if it still refuses, from cheapest to most expensive

1. The formal notice

This is the cheapest step, and you can do it yourself. A formal notice (mise en demeure) « doit être faite par écrit », must be in writing, and must grant a sufficient period for performance (article 1595 CCQ). List the documents again, cite articles 1070 and 1070.1 CCQ, and state what comes next if nothing moves.

2. The co-owners' assembly

The board manages the syndicate, but it answers to the assembly.

Put the question on the agenda. Any co-owner may, within five days of receiving the notice of meeting, have a question placed on the agenda (article 1088 CCQ).
Requisition a special meeting. Under the generally accepted reading, the general rules on legal persons apply to the syndicate on a suppletive basis, except where its by-laws derogate from them while preserving the members' rights (article 334 CCQ). Co-owners representing 10% of the votes can therefore, in principle, require a meeting to be called, stating in writing the questions to be dealt with. If the board does not act within 21 days, any signatory may call it, and the syndicate reimburses the useful expenses unless the meeting decides otherwise (article 352 CCQ). Check what your declaration of co-ownership provides as well.
Replace the directors. How directors are appointed and replaced is set by the by-laws of the immovable (article 1084 CCQ). Read them before the meeting.

This route costs almost nothing, but it requires rallying other co-owners. In practice, a refusal of access rarely affects a single person: those asking the same questions are often your best allies.

3. The court

If nothing works, the court can order the syndicate to meet its obligation. A creditor may, in cases that admit of it, demand that the debtor be forced to perform the obligation in kind (article 1601 CCQ), and the Superior Court may, by injunction, order a person to perform a specific act (article 509 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

Two other remedies target more serious situations.

Annul a board decision. Any co-owner may ask the court to annul a board decision that is biased, taken with intent to harm the co-owners or in disregard of their rights; the action must be brought within 90 days of the decision or the right is lost (article 1086.2 CCQ). That deadline applies to annulling the decision; it does not end the syndicate's obligation to make the register available. If the refusal took the form of a board resolution, note its date and consult a lawyer promptly.
Replace the board. The court may, if circumstances justify it, replace the board with a provisional administrator (article 1086.4 CCQ). This is an exceptional measure, for boards that no longer function.

The honest answer on cost. These remedies are generally pursued with a lawyer before the Superior Court, and they are expensive. Small claims court is not an alternative: it mainly covers the recovery of a claim of up to $15,000, and a claim about access to documents alone does not fit that framework (article 536 of the Code of Civil Procedure). That is why the formal notice and the assembly are worth exhausting first. They cost little, and they build the record that makes a court remedy credible if it becomes necessary.

When the documents live with the manager

One case comes up often: the documents exist, but they sit in the management company's platform, which the co-owners cannot get into, or only part of them was ever uploaded. The obligation to make the register available rests on the syndicate (article 1070.1 CCQ); the manager acts on its behalf, as administrator of the property of others (article 1085 CCQ). So it is up to the board to make consultation possible, whatever platform it chose. Address your request to the board, and let it obtain the documents from its manager. If the syndicate itself cannot get them back, see how to recover records from an outgoing manager.

What a well-kept register changes

Most refusals do not come from a wish to hide something. They come from a board that no longer knows where the documents are, or that fears showing an incomplete register. An organized register removes that fear, and most requests never reach the point of refusal.

In CondoAide, the board sets an access level for each document: board only, co-owners, or co-owners and tenants. A co-owner sees, as soon as they sign in, the documents made available to everyone, without having to ask. Documents under permanent retention, such as the declaration, the minutes and the financial statements, cannot be deleted, even by a director. And the register's activity log shows the board who consulted or downloaded each document, and when.

Frequently asked questions

Can the board of directors refuse access to the register?

The Code lists no ground for refusal. Article 1070.1 CCQ guarantees every co-owner the consultation of the register and of the documents kept available to them, in the presence of a director or a designated person, at reasonable hours and in the manner set by the by-laws of the immovable. The board can set the terms and redact certain personal information where needed, but it cannot refuse access outright.

Can the syndicate charge me to consult the register?

The Code provides for reasonable fees to obtain a copy of the content of the register and of the documents (article 1070.1 CCQ). It provides for none for consultation alone.

Are contractor quotes part of the register?

An accepted quote becomes a contract, and copies of contracts to which the syndicate is a party are part of the register (article 1070 CCQ). Quotes that were not retained are not named by the Code, but they fall under the category of documents relating to the immovable and the syndicate, which does not exclude them, but the question is not expressly settled. The notice of the annual meeting must also include a note on the essential terms of the proposed contracts and planned work (article 1087 CCQ).

How quickly must the board answer my request to consult?

The Code sets no response deadline; it requires that consultation be possible at reasonable hours (article 1070.1 CCQ). On the other hand, the minutes of board decisions and of assemblies must be sent to the co-owners within 30 days (articles 1086.1 and 1102.1 CCQ).

Can I go to small claims court if the board refuses access?

Not for access alone. Small claims court mainly covers the recovery of a claim of up to $15,000 (article 536 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Before going to court, the formal notice and the co-owners' assembly are the cheapest remedies: co-owners representing 10% of the votes can in principle require a meeting to be called (article 352 CCQ).