Condo owners often want to know where their money is going. That is especially true when the corporation is spending money on lawyers and even more so when the fees are charged back to a specific owner.
These situations often lead to records requests seeking access to legal invoices, leaving us with this question: “Can owners see the corporation’s legal invoices?”. Perhaps asked differently, are legal bills corporate records accessible to owners?
The answer is: yes, but in most cases, the owner should expect to receive only a heavily redacted invoice showing only total amount billed.
Owners are entitled to request legal invoices in the context of records requests. But the corporation is generally entitled to redact pretty much everything except the final amount billed on each invoice. In other words: The right is to see the amount spent, not to audit the legal work behind the invoice.
Anderson: the key rule
The clearest statement comes from Anderson v. Niagara South Condominium Corporation No. 12, 2022 ONCAT 28.
In that case, the owner requested the corporation’s legal invoices for the previous 12 months. The corporation refused, relying on solicitor-client privilege.
The CAT recognized two competing concepts: On the one hand, legal invoices are presumptively privileged. On the other hand, condos are supposed to operate with transparency under the “open book” principle.
So the CAT reached a compromise. The corporation had to provide the invoices, but it could redact the number of hours billed, hourly rates, descriptions of services, names of specific lawyers, and even the dates of the invoices. The invoices only had to show the total amount for each invoice. The Tribunal provided:
“I find that the Respondent is required to provide the legal invoices to the Applicant, but that they are entitled to redact description of number of hours billed, the hourly rates, the services provided, the names of specific counsel who provided the services, and the dates of the invoices. The invoices must show the total amount for each.”
That is the main point.
There is a big difference between being entitled to a legal invoice to understand how much was paid and being entitled to the details inside that invoice, which usually contains privileged information.
Koprivica: same answer, newer case
The recent case of Koprivica v. Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation No. 1088, 2026 ONCAT 49 confirms the same approach.
There, the owner requested legal invoices relating to letters sent to unit owners, lien threats, and pre-litigation activity involving unit owners.
The CAT found that these records were sensitive. They related to specific owners or units, and some related to actual or contemplated litigation.
But the CAT still ordered the corporation to provide redacted invoices.
Once again, the corporation could redact the narrative descriptions, dates of services, hours billed, hourly rates, fees billed for each specific service, and the identity of the person who billed for those hours. The total amount of each invoice had to remain visible.
This latest case leads to the same conclusion:
Even where legal invoices are producible, the corporation is generally entitled to redact pretty much everything except the final amount billed.
The takeaway
So, is an owner entitled to request legal invoices?
Yes.
Is the owner entitled to see the full, unredacted invoices?
Usually, no.
The CAT appears to be drawing a line between transparency and privilege. Owners may be entitled to know how much the corporation spent on legal invoices. But they are not necessarily entitled to see what the lawyers did, when they did it, how long it took, who did the work, or what advice was being given.
