2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 42 - Real Property › Chapter 19 - Condominiums › Subchapter III - Control and Governance of Condominiums › § 42–1903.14. Books, minutes, and records; inspection

§ 42–1903.14. Books, minutes, and records; inspection.
(a) The unit owners’ association, or the declarant, the managing agent, or other person specified in the bylaws acting on behalf of the unit owners’ association, shall keep detailed records of the receipts and expenditures affecting the operation and administration of the condominium and specifying the association’s expenses related to the common elements and any other expenses incurred by or on behalf of the association.
(b) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, books and records kept by or on behalf of the unit owners’ association, including the unit owners’ association membership list, mailing addresses of unit owners, and financial records, including aggregate salary information of the unit owners’ association employees, shall be available in the District of Columbia and within 50 miles of the District of Columbia, for examination and copying by a unit owner in good standing or such unit owner’s authorized agent so long as the request is for a proper purpose related to the unit owner’s membership in the unit owners’ association, and not for pecuniary gain, commercial solicitation, or other purpose unrelated to the unit owner’s membership in the unit owners’ association. This right of examination may be exercised only during reasonable hours on business days. The books shall be subject to an independent audit upon the request of owners of units to which 33 1/3% of the votes in the unit owners’ association pertain or a lower percentage as may be specified.
(c)(1) Books and records kept by or on behalf of a unit owners’ association may be withheld from examination or copying by unit owners and their agents to the extent that they are drafts not yet incorporated into the unit owners’ association’s books and records or if the books and records concern:
(A) Personnel matters relating to specific, identified persons who work for the unit owners’ association, including a person’s medical records;
(B) Contracts, leases, and other commercial transactions to purchase or provide goods or services, currently in or under negotiation;
(C) Pending or anticipated litigation;
(D) Matters involving state or local administrative or other formal proceedings before a government tribunal for enforcement of the condominium instruments or rules and regulations promulgated by the executive board;
(E) Communications with legal counsel;
(F) Disclosure of information in violation of law;
(G) Minutes or other records of an executive session of the executive board;
(H) Documentation, correspondence, management, or reports compiled for or on behalf of the unit owners’ association or the executive board by its agents or committees for consideration by the executive board in executive session; or
(I) Individual unit owner or member files, other than those of the requesting unit owner, including any individual unit owner’s files kept by or on behalf of the unit owners’ association.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection, the term “anticipated litigation” means those instances where there has been a specific threat of litigation from a party or the legal counsel of a party.
(d) Before providing copies of any books or records, the unit owners’ association may impose and collect a fee reflecting the actual costs of materials and labor for providing access to copies of the requests books and records.
(Mar. 29, 1977, D.C. Law 1-89, title III, § 314, 23 DCR 9532b; Mar. 8, 1991, D.C. Law 8-233, § 2(hh), 38 DCR 261; June 21, 2014, D.C. Law 20-109, § 2(m), 61 DCR 4304.)
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 45-1854.
1973 Ed., § 5-1254.
Section References
This section is referenced in § 42-1901.01.
Effect of Amendments
The 2014 amendment by D.C. Law 20-109 rewrote the section.