A Community’s Board of Trustees as elected fiduciaries is responsible to keep a complete record of all of its acts and affairs and to typically present a summary report thereof to its members at the Association’s annual meeting.  The NJ Condominium Act requires an Association through its Governing Board to be responsible for the maintenance of accounting records, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, open to inspection at reasonable times by unit owners. 

 

These records include:

1) a record of all receipts and expenditures;

2) an account for each Unit setting forth any shares of common expenses or other charges due, the due dates thereof, the present balance due, and any interest in common surplus. 

 

A Unit Owner’s request to have access to Association records which pertain to other Unit Owner’s can at times be problematic.  An Association and its Governing Board must guard against a Unit Owner’s right of privacy.  Unwarranted invasion of a Unit Owner’s right to privacy must be respected by the Board and is quite often an appropriate response to a Unit Owner’s inquiry for information about his/her neighbor.  Here at Giaimo & Associates, we have throughout the years and in concert with the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Bureau of Homeowner Protection, prepared customized Association Resolutions setting forth an appropriate procedure to be followed in Community Associations when responding to a Homeowner’s request for access to Association records.