The Kansas Court of Appeals held that Kansas law requires a homeowners association to disclose the names and addresses of delinquent homeowners. Although this case was decided in Kansas, it could be an indication of how a Washington court might decide a similar issue.

The recent case of Frobish v. Cedar Lakes Village Condominium Association concerned the Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act, which required that a homeowners association maintain accounting records for 5 years and make records public, with the option to withhold certain records for privacy reasons. The Cedar Lakes Association’s board decided that the names and addresses of delinquent owners were records that did not have to be disclosed.

Frobish, a property owner at Cedar Lakes, made several requests to the association for the names and addresses of delinquent owners, but the association denied his requests. Frobish sued the association, and the case ultimately made its way to the appeals court.

The appeals court held that Kansas law required that the association keep a record of dues payments, including who has paid and who has not. The information that could be withheld under the law included documents that were protected by privacy rules already. However, there were no privacy protections for delinquent owners, especially when any lawsuit against a delinquent owner for nonpayment would be public record.

The court also stated that the payment of dues was very important to the operation of an association, and disclosure helps the association function by holding owners accountable. For these reasons, the court held that the names and addresses of delinquent owners were not the type of information that could be withheld.

If you have any questions we can answer, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us directly.  We look forward to continuing this conversation with you in our future posts!