Responsibility / confidentiality Agreement

Question

Hi Betty,

I'm a board member for a townhouse condo and am wondering if you could give some advice. Our Board is considering having our Board members sign a "Responsibility/Confidentiality Agreement". Some Board members are questioning the need for such an agreement and tend to think it's more trouble then it's worth and it sends out the wrong message to the other owners.

I was just wondering whether you know of Condos that asks their Board members to sign such an agreement. And if so do you provide templates of such an agreement. Also, if you know, whether there are any legal requirements (or as a precautionary measure) that Boards sign one (especially now with the new Privacy Act.)

Yours sincerely,

H M


Answer

Dear HM

I believe this is a timely and excellent question with the new Privacy Legislation that is now in effect. I think there is a real need for board members to understand that they must not pass on information that pertains to individual owners such as financial information or personal information. The other concern for the Board of Directors is with regards to the cost and coverage of Directors and Officers Insurance coverage, when the Board of Directors does not respect the Privacy Legislation.

I think having a confidentiality agreement, in writing between board members would be a wise and prudent solution to minimizing any risk for the board should someone not understand the parameters of what is confidential, and what is public information for a condominium. There is nothing in the Act or Regulation that makes this mandatory, although the Condominium Property Act does give the Board of Directors the responsibility of acting in the best interest of the condominium as a whole.

At this point in time we do not have a template available. We will take the lead with your suggestion and look to having one available on the Condo-Check web site (www.condo-check.com) in the near future. Thank you for the suggestion.

An other program that would be of great benefit to all condominiums is the Risk Management Protocol system. To learn more about this program refer to our May issue of the condo e-magazine at www.condo-check.com (follow the link to free e-magazine). Details on how to contact the protocol Centre is in the e-magazine as well.

Thank you for this timely question.

Betty!