Condo Media - October 2024 - 40

The Region RHODE ISLAND
'Nice Try, But No'
Responding to an Unreasonable Records Access Request
[By Frank A. Lombardi, Esq.]
Our office received a letter from an
attorney representing a unit owner
who is disputing a decision by the
association's architectural review
committee concerning the width and
length requirements for a new patio
in unit rebuilds. In today's litigious
society, it was not unusual for the
disappointed unit owner to lawyer
up and to review the condominium's
governing documents and to declare
them ambiguous, or that the board's
procedure was improper, or to raise any
number of reasons why rules intended
to protect all of the unit owners are
unfair if they do not serve the interests
of just one particular unit owner.
RECORDS ACCESS REQUEST
What was unusual about this request
was the lawyer's use of the access to
records statute in the Rhode Island
Condominium Act (RIGL 34-36.13.17).
Briefly, in his letter the lawyer
was demanding that the association
produce " any and all records relating
to the unit owner's dispute with the
association " and ended it with a request
for all records relating to the operation
and management of the condominium,
which I guess meant, " give us everything
you got. " This was, in effect,
40 CONDOMEDIA October 2024
an attempt to gather as much information
from the association to make a
case against it before filing a lawsuit.
I responded with a funny but
respectful: " nice try, but no. " Briefly,
I explained that this statutory records
access provision in the RI Condominium
Act was not intended to circumvent
the protections any civil litigant is
entitled to in a lawsuit. In other words,
an association is no different than any
civil litigant, plaintiff, or defendant
in a lawsuit, and as such, is entitled to
raise objections to requests normally
available under the Rhode Island Rules
of Civil Procedure. Nonetheless, since
the letter from this lawyer contained a
novel approach, it deserved a detailed
response, which I will summarize here.
STATUTE REQUIREMENTS
First, the statute the lawyer raised is
RIGL 34-36.1-3.18. (association records),
which reads as follows:
The association shall keep financial
records sufficiently detailed to enable
the association to comply with
§ 34-36.1-4.09. All financial and other
records shall be made reasonably
available for examination within thirty
(30) days of a request by any unit owner
and his or her authorized agent.
The statutory provision is brief and
contains only two sentences:
The first requires the association to
keep records which would enable it to
prepare a bona fide resale certificate
(section 4.09 of the RI Condominium
Act) for owners wishing to sell their
units to purchasers who need essential
information about the association
to enable them to make an educated
decision about buying the unit. Resale
certificates in Rhode Island, like the
6(d) certificates in Massachusetts, give
buyers financial information, including
but not limited to the amount of
the monthly assessments, any special
assessments existing now or contemplated
in the future, balance sheets,
budgets, any knowledge of health or
code violations, etc. This sentence,
while critical to the proper operation
of the association's business and a
purchaser's due diligence investigation,
is not applicable to our lawyer friend's
request here.
The second sentence of the statute
in part says that any " other records "
shall be made " reasonably available
for examination " within 30 days of a
request by a unit owner. In my opinion,
any " other records " in conjunction with
" reasonably available for examination "
Condo Media - October 2024

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