The core records right in New Jersey is financial. Under N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g), a condominium association must maintain accounting records in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, open to inspection at reasonable times by unit owners, including a record of all receipts and expenditures and an account for each unit showing the charges due, due dates, the balance, and any interest in common surplus. That is your statutory window into the budget, the reserves, and your own ledger, and it does not depend on the board's goodwill.
Governance records ride alongside. Minutes of open board meetings must be made available to all association members before the next open meeting (N.J.S.A. 45:22A-46), which in practice creates a rolling right to see what the board decided and how. The Radburn amendments and the Department of Community Affairs' 2020 implementing regulations (N.J.A.C. 5:26-8) added election-related transparency, including access rules around ballots, nominations, and voting records, and gave owners a regulator to complain to: DCA administers PREDFDA and takes association-regulation complaints from owners in common-interest communities.
Use the records to check the money
A records request is leverage in every other fight. Before you dispute a fine, pull your unit ledger. Before a special assessment vote, pull the budget and the board minutes where it was discussed. Before an election challenge, pull the minutes and the election records the Radburn rules require. Owners who quote the association's own books back to it get different answers than owners who ask vaguely where the money went, and if inspection is refused, the refusal itself, documented in writing, is a housing-related dispute you can take to the ADR procedure or to DCA.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g)
Condominium associations must keep GAAP accounting records open to inspection at reasonable times by unit owners, including receipts, expenditures, and each unit's account.
N.J.S.A. 45:22A-46
Minutes of open board meetings must be taken and made available to all association members before the next open meeting.
N.J.A.C. 5:26-8 (DCA's PREDFDA regulations)
The Department of Community Affairs' Radburn-era regulations on association governance, elections, and related records, with DCA as the complaint venue when an association won't comply.
Step by step
How to make an association records request in New Jersey
A clean, statute-anchored request for financial and governance records from a New Jersey association.
- 01
Put the request in writing and date it
Email the manager and board, and keep a copy. Name yourself as a unit owner and describe the records specifically: the current budget, financial statements, your unit ledger, board minutes for named months, or election records.
- 02
Cite the statute that fits
Financial records: N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g) and its reasonable-times inspection right. Minutes: 45:22A-46's requirement that they be available before the next open meeting. Election records: the Radburn rules and DCA's regulations at N.J.A.C. 5:26-8.
- 03
Offer reasonable logistics
Propose ordinary business hours for inspection and accept reasonable copy costs. Removing the logistical excuses isolates the real question: will they comply or not.
- 04
Document any refusal
If access is denied or endlessly delayed, capture the timeline in writing. A documented refusal converts a records problem into a dispute you can escalate.
- 05
Escalate to ADR or DCA
Push a refusal into the association's mandatory dispute resolution procedure, or file a complaint with the Department of Community Affairs, which administers PREDFDA. Persistent stonewalling rarely survives a regulator's letter.
Straight answers
Common questions
What records am I entitled to see in a New Jersey association?
At minimum the accounting records: receipts, expenditures, the budget, and your own unit's account, open to inspection at reasonable times under N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g), plus board meeting minutes, which must be available before the next open meeting under 45:22A-46.
Is there a statutory deadline to respond to my request?
The Condominium Act frames the right as inspection at reasonable times rather than a fixed day-count. Put your request in writing, propose specific dates, and document delay; an unreasonable refusal is a dispute you can escalate to ADR or to DCA.
Can I see the board's meeting minutes?
Yes. Minutes of open board meetings must be taken and made available to all members before the next open meeting. A board that takes binding votes without producing minutes is violating the open-meeting statute, not just being slow.
Who do I complain to if the association ignores me?
Two venues: the association's own mandatory ADR procedure under 46:8B-14(k), and the Department of Community Affairs, which administers PREDFDA and its regulations and accepts complaints from owners in common-interest communities.