Appointment of a surveyor and management audits
Confidentiality
Some landlords may be reluctant to fully comply with an auditor’s or surveyor’s wish to examine their accounts on grounds of confidentiality.
There are no provisions in the legislation providing a landlord or managing agent any right of embargo or partial compliance arising from confidentiality of accounts, nor is there any provision for the court to be able to order disclosure of information to be subject to the blanking out of particularly confidential matters. The legislation gives no defence to the landlord in this area.
As the new legislation has not yet been tested in court it might be prudent to apply the general principle of "privity of information" in these cases – that is, the information, obtained under compulsion, is confidential to the auditor or surveyor, for the purposes of their appointment, and is for use by the tenants in direct connection with the audit or other specific purpose arising from the appointment of the surveyor.
It would be wise, pending any contrary precedent, not to pass such information beyond the auditor or surveyor and the relevant tenants – it should not be published in a newspaper or given to other tenants of the same landlord.
- Last updated:
- 27 August 2021
- Next review:
- 12 December 2026
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