Can a strata manager give out an owner's details?

Often yes, and sometimes you must. State strata law compels a manager to keep the owners roll and make it available to owners and other entitled people, so privacy is generally not a lawful ground to refuse a proper request. But you cannot hand the same details to just anyone: if the Privacy Act covers your business, you still owe APP 6 and APP 11 over that data.

By Jon Oates, Founder of Privaproof · Last updated 23 July 2026

General information, document templates and tools you tailor, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice.

Need to know

State strata legislation compels a manager to keep an owners roll and make it available to owners and other entitled people on a proper request, so privacy is generally not a lawful reason to refuse.
If the Privacy Act covers your business (broadly, turnover over A$3 million or part of a larger covered group), APP 6 still permits disclosures required or authorised by law, so releasing the roll to an entitled person is permitted while APP 11 requires you to keep it secure from everyone else.
Handing owners' contact details to a real estate agent, marketer or researcher to prospect them is not an authorised purpose and, for a covered manager, would breach APP 6.
The access right, roll contents, prescribed fee and any practice of redacting phone or email before release are state-specific and vary across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, so confirm your own jurisdiction's current requirements.

Why "no, that's private" is usually the wrong answer

Strata is unusual. In most businesses, the safe instinct is to lock personal information away. In strata, the roll is a statutory record that the law says certain people are entitled to see. Your state strata legislation requires the manager to keep an owners roll or register and to make it available for inspection on a proper request.

In New South Wales, the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 sets out what the roll must contain (owners' names and addresses, under s 178), how long records are kept (around seven years, under s 180) and the right of owners and other entitled people to inspect the records on request and payment of the prescribed fee (s 182). The NCAT Appeal Panel has put it bluntly: there is effectively no privacy in strata records. Victoria (under the Owners Corporations Act 2006 records and register provisions) and Queensland (under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 interested-person access) run equivalent access regimes, though the exact sections and details differ by state, so confirm your own.

The practical point: when an owner, committee member, mortgagee or other entitled person makes a proper request under the strata Act, "privacy" is generally not a lawful reason to refuse. Refusing a lawful inspection can itself put you in breach of the strata legislation.

How this squares with the Privacy Act

If your managing-agent business is covered by the Privacy Act (broadly, turnover over A$3 million, or you are a related body corporate of a larger covered group), the Australian Privacy Principles still apply to the roll. That is not a contradiction. The Privacy Act is built to work alongside other laws.

APP 6 limits you to using or disclosing personal information for the purpose you collected it, or for a directly related purpose the person would reasonably expect, or where the disclosure is required or authorised by law. A disclosure the strata Act compels or authorises falls squarely into that last category. So releasing the roll to an entitled person under the statutory access right is a permitted disclosure, not a breach.

Meanwhile APP 11 requires you to keep that same data secure and to take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse and unauthorised access. Holding both at once is the whole skill: you disclose to the people the law entitles, and you protect it from everyone else.

If you are a smaller independent manager under A$3 million and not part of a larger group, the APPs may not bind your business at all. Even then, your state strata law still compels the roll disclosure, and it is still worth handling the data carefully, because a leak harms residents regardless of whether a federal statute applied to you. Read: does the Privacy Act apply to strata managers?

Where the honest line actually sits

The tension is not between disclosing and refusing. It is between an authorised disclosure and an unauthorised one. A few worked situations:

An owner asks for the roll. Generally yes, this is a lawful inspection request under the strata Act. Follow your state's process (proper request, prescribed fee, prescribed timeframe). In practice many managers redact direct contact details such as phone and email before releasing the roll, but whether that is permitted, required or overreach is state-specific and time-sensitive, so confirm your state's position .
A debt collector needs an owner's details to recover levy arrears. Generally permissible, because it flows from the owners corporation's statutory records and its power to recover levies. Naming or shaming a defaulter publicly, or at a general meeting, is a different and higher-risk step. Read: levy arrears, debt recovery and privacy in strata
A real estate agent, marketer or researcher wants owners' contact details to prospect them. This is where you say no. It is not an authorised purpose under the strata Act, and for a covered manager it would breach APP 6. Using or selling the roll for marketing is one of the clearest misuse cases.
One owner wants another owner's details to pursue a personal dispute. Tread carefully. The inspection right generally gives access to the record, but using the roll to harass or intimidate is not what the access right is for, and can raise separate issues under surveillance, stalking or apprehended-violence law. Give what the statute entitles, and no more.

The wrong instinct in strata is a blanket "we never release owner details, it's private." That answer can breach the strata Act. The equally wrong instinct is "it's a public record, take whatever you like." That can breach APP 6 if you are covered. The honest answer lives between them: disclose to the entitled, for the authorised purpose, and protect it from everyone else.

A simple test before you release anything

1. Is the requester an entitled person under my state's strata Act? (Owner, committee member, mortgagee, or other person the Act names.) 2. Have they made the request the right way? (Proper form, prescribed fee, prescribed timeframe.) 3. Is the purpose one the strata Act, or a directly related expectation, supports? (Not marketing, not a private vendetta, not resale.) 4. Am I releasing only what is needed, in a secure way? (Redact where your state allows, send securely, log the disclosure.)

If yes to all four, disclosure is generally lawful. If the request fails any of them, that is your lawful ground to pause, ask for clarification, or decline, and it is the ground the strata Act and the Privacy Act actually give you, not a vague "it's private."

Common questions

Can I refuse to give an owner the roll on privacy grounds?

Generally no. State strata law gives owners and other entitled people a right to inspect the records, including the roll, on a proper request and payment of the prescribed fee. Privacy is not usually a lawful ground to refuse a request the strata Act authorises. Follow your state's inspection process rather than blanket-refusing.

If the Privacy Act covers my business, doesn't that override the strata Act?

No. The Australian Privacy Principles are designed to work alongside other laws. APP 6 expressly permits a use or disclosure that is required or authorised by law, and a disclosure the strata Act compels is exactly that. You disclose to entitled people under the strata Act, and you keep the data secure under APP 11. Both apply at once.

Can I give owners' contact details to a real estate agent or marketing company?

No. That is not an authorised purpose under the strata Act, and if your business is covered by the Privacy Act it would breach APP 6. The statutory access right is for owners, committee members, mortgagees and similar entitled people for genuine strata purposes, not for prospecting, resale or marketing lists.

Can the owners corporation give an owner's details to a debt collector chasing levy arrears?

Generally yes. Disclosing an owner's details to recover unpaid levies flows from the owners corporation's statutory records and its power to recover levies, so it is usually an authorised disclosure. Publicly naming a defaulter, for example at a general meeting, is a separate and higher-risk step that a covered manager should handle carefully.

Do these rules change depending on my state?

Yes. The access right, the roll contents, the fee and any redaction practice all sit in state strata legislation and vary. We scope our guidance to New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland and flag where a detail needs confirming for your state. Always confirm your own jurisdiction's current requirements before releasing records.

Keep reading

This is general information and document templates you tailor to your own business, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice and does not provide legal advice. Whether the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) applies to your business depends on your turnover and structure; state strata legislation governs the owners roll and record access, and it varies by jurisdiction. Privaproof's strata documents are self-authored and are not independently reviewed by a solicitor. State strata Acts and the Privacy Act change over time, so check you are working from a current version and confirm your own state's requirements. For advice on your specific circumstances, consult a qualified Australian legal practitioner.