Short answer
Yes. Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), a financial owner (or their authorised representative) has a statutory right to inspect the owners corporation’s records, and that includes professional reports the scheme has commissioned — such as engineering, building and defect reports. A committee cannot simply keep such a report from owners. The only narrow exception is a document protected by legal professional privilege for active proceedings.
The right to inspect records
When a scheme faces structural issues, the committee will often pay a professional engineer or building surveyor to compile a defect report. Because it is a record of the owners corporation, owners are entitled to see it.
On application and payment of the prescribed fee, an owner can inspect the scheme’s records, which include:
- Minutes of all committee and general meetings.
- Financial statements and the scheme’s accounts.
- Professional reports, engineering briefs and correspondence commissioned or received by the owners corporation.
The exact inspection fee is set by regulation and updated periodically, so confirm the current amount before you apply. (Fee flagged for confirmation.)
Can the committee withhold a report?
The one situation where a report can be withheld is where it was commissioned specifically for active, ongoing legal proceedings against a third party — for example, litigation against the builder — and is covered by legal professional privilege. That is a narrow exception.
A generic structural health check or a routine maintenance report paid for with common funds does not qualify. It cannot be hidden from owners simply because it contains unwelcome findings. Where access is unreasonably refused, an owner can take the matter to NSW Fair Trading and, if needed, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
How to request access
An owner submits a formal records-inspection application to the owners corporation or its strata manager, pays the prescribed fee, and is given access to view or copy the document at an agreed time. It is a defined statutory process, not a matter of the committee’s discretion.
Keeping reports on the record and accessible
Defect and building reports are exactly the kind of document that goes missing in a self-managed scheme — filed on one person’s laptop, forgotten by the next committee. A system such as Straita keeps the scheme’s reports, minutes and records in order and retained for the required periods, so when an owner exercises their inspection right the document can be produced straight away rather than reconstructed or quietly lost.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), s 182–183 — the right to inspect the records of the owners corporation.
- NSW Government — Record keeping requirements (Fair Trading) — records inspection and current fees.
- NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) — where a records-access dispute can be resolved.