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LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Hi everybody, We're an HOA, and we've got one of those issues where everybody is getting pretty cranky.

One Condominium resident has requested everybody's email addresses. We've had this available as an online directory but several people requested their email address not to be listed. The HOA uses a google group to send email notices to residents. It sounds like the resident making the request does have the right to the full google group list of emails, because it's used to send notices:

---QUOTE---
718.111 The association.—
(…)
(12) OFFICIAL RECORDS.—
(…)
(b) (…) paragraph (c) may be complied with by having a copy of the official records of the association available for inspection or copying on the condominium property or association property,(…)
(c)1.a. The official records of the association are open to inspection by any association member (…) If the requested records are posted on an association’s website, or are available for download through an application on a mobile device, the association may fulfill its obligations under this paragraph by directing to the website or the application all persons authorized to request access.
(…) the following records are not accessible to unit owners:
e. Social security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, emergency contact information, addresses of a unit owner other than as provided to fulfill the association’s notice requirements, and other personal identifying information of any person, excluding the person’s name, unit designation, mailing address, property address, and any address, e-mail address, or facsimile number provided to the association to fulfill the association’s notice requirements. 
---/QUOTE---

However the resident is requesting that we provide this information in a specific format, and I do not see anything requiring such a thing.

Since we send notices by mail (for votes etc) or by email (for notices of meetings), if I'm reading this right, then the resident would be entitled to a list of names and mailing addresses which we use for mailed notices, and a list of email addresses which we use for emailed notices, but not a list describing what member goes with what email address, since we do not track that information by default in our emailed notices? (we do match emails to people in our directory that is already available to all members both online and in our community booklet, but that one does not contain the emails of people who opted out).

Really, it sounds like what he is entitled to as far as the emails, is to be sent a screen shot of our Google Group membership list, which is what we use "to fulfill the association’s notice requirements." Does that seem correct to you guys?

Related issue, the resident has already sent messages out to a cc mailing list apparently made from the online directory and has has several people request to be removed from his mailing list. Would it be imprudent to provide a list of the emails of people who have requested not to be contacted by the resident, when we provide the list of emails? Do those people have any redress if they are not removed from the resident's list? Or should I just be providing instructions to our residents on how to block emails?

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my wall of text. Hope you're all having a great week!
-Lith
LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Oh - weird, I could have sworn I typed condo association, not HOA. My apologies if this caused any confusion. The laws I quoted are for condos, which is what we are. Thanks!
LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Sorry for cluttering this up with my own replies. Okay so I found this:

"both the Condominium and HOA acts provide that email addresses are not inspectable records, except for emails that have been provided to the association to fulfill the association’s notice requirements (that is, for receiving notice that would otherwise need to be mailed — this provision is not talking about owners giving their email address so they can receive general notifications and news about the community)."

That makes it sound like the resident does NOT have the right to request the email addresses from our Google Group but DOES have the right to request the mailing list we use for sending ballots etc.

It also sounds like in the future we could create one list explicitly for "notice requirement" duties and another for everything else, and we could collect email addresses specifically for "notice requirements" with the understanding that access to these could be requested by any condo owner.

quote from https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/business/2018/04/07/email-addresses-may-be-included/6870881007/

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
Per your own citation [emphasis added]:

(c)1.a. The official records of the association are open to inspection by any association member (…) If the requested records are posted on an association’s website, or are available for download through an application on a mobile device, the association may fulfill its obligations under this paragraph by directing to the website or the application all persons authorized to request access.
(…) the following records are not accessible to unit owners:
e. Social security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, emergency contact information, addresses of a unit owner other than as provided to fulfill the association’s notice requirements, and other personal identifying information of any person, excluding the person’s name, unit designation, mailing address, property address, and any address, e-mail address, or facsimile number provided to the association to fulfill the association’s notice requirements.
LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Yes, thanks - the problem is that in that section listing what records are not accessible it also says:

"other than as provided to fulfill the association’s notice requirements" and "excluding the person’s (info) provided to the association to fulfill the association’s notice requirements."

Which makes it sound like they DO have the right to get the information a condo assoc uses to send out ballots etc. My question really is, if our OFFICIAL contacts are all paper mailed, and the emails are just a backup and mostly for announcing clubhouse activities, then would a request for a document listing everyone's contact info and email be satisfied by just providing the physical address mailing list (which we use to fulfill the association’s notice requirements)? And if we do need to provide emails, do they need to be individually identified, if we do not track whose email belongs to whom in the Google Group membership we use for contacting residents via email mailing list?

LoriM15 (Florida)
Posts: 1,009
Posted:
If the owner has given you an email address and given electronic consent, which means that they want to receive official notices (not just ballots) by email, then you must provide the email addresses with an official records request. Otherwise, you do not need to provide. If they just provide an email address for convenience, but don't want to get everything by email, then those email addresses are confidential.

That comes directly from a presentation by our HOA attorney and it applies to COAs and HOAS.
TamaraG7 (Florida)
Posts: 35
Posted:
If an association provides members with an owner directory and email addresses are included, then email addresses are not private since all owners have access to said email information.

LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By LoriM15 on 03/19/2025 7:31 AM
If the owner has given you an email address and given electronic consent, which means that they want to receive official notices (not just ballots) by email, then you must provide the email addresses with an official records request. Otherwise, you do not need to provide. If they just provide an email address for convenience, but don't want to get everything by email, then those email addresses are confidential.

That comes directly from a presentation by our HOA attorney and it applies to COAs and HOAS.

Ah, this is an informative answer. Thank you very much!
LillithR (Florida)
Posts: 6
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By TamaraG7 on 03/19/2025 10:06 AM
If an association provides members with an owner directory and email addresses are included, then email addresses are not private since all owners have access to said email information.


Yes, and the requesting owner already has access to that in printed form, as it's distributed to all owners, and it is also available on the website as a PDF. I'm more asking about the emails of the owners who did not give consent to be listed in that directory, or who have recently sent requests via email to be removed from the online directory.
TamaraG7 (Florida)
Posts: 35
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By LillithR on 03/19/2025 10:48 AM
Posted By TamaraG7 on 03/19/2025 10:06 AM
If an association provides members with an owner directory and email addresses are included, then email addresses are not private since all owners have access to said email information.



Yes, and the requesting owner already has access to that in printed form, as it's distributed to all owners, and it is also available on the website as a PDF. I'm more asking about the emails of the owners who did not give consent to be listed in that directory, or who have recently sent requests via email to be removed from the online directory.

If not listed in the directory and/or removed from updated directory then the email is considered private.

When I send out notice to my owners in the COA, I send the email to everyone "bcc"; in that fashion, I do not provide any email to anyone in any fashion.
If owners want to start email train wrecks amongst themselves, that is up to them as they have directory access through the website (private) as well as from issued directories.

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