Q I live in a condominium complex with 75 units. I have asked the board for a financial statement since I never received one. It is my understanding that under Massachusetts General Law 183A, the association or its management company is to provide this information to unit owners within 150 days of the end of the fiscal year. The board replied that it didn’t have to do this because the association voted for an audit every two years. I believe these are two different clauses in 183A. Should I have access to these financial reports?

In addition, a number of unit owners requested to review the financials of the association to date. The board responded that the records were with the CPA firm for an audit and that the board did not have all the records we requested. Does this seem strange? Should we not have proper access to these records?

— Disturbed in Dedham

A “Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 183A (the Massachusetts Condominium

Act) section 10 (d) provides that the association is responsible for preparing a financial report to be completed within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year, including, without limitation, a balance sheet, income and expense statement, and a statement of the funds available in the various accounts of the association,” according to Attorney Stephen M. Marcus, a partner at the law firm of Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C., in Braintree, Massachusetts. “A copy of the report must be made available to all unit owners within 30 days of its completion.

“The requirement above is a separate requirement from the requirement of a CPA review of the financial report for any condominium comprising 50 or more units. The review must also be conducted annually unless there is an annual vote of 67% of the unit owners to not provide an annual review in which case, the review must be done every two years.

“Therefore, it is clear that you are entitled to the association financial report on an annual basis.

“Your second question relates to the ability of unit owners to inspect the financials of the association. Section 10 (c) of the Condominium Act provides that such records shall be available for reasonable inspection by any unit owner during regular business hours. Access to the records includes the right to photocopy the records at the expense of the unit owner making the request. It would seem highly unusual that the records of the association would be with the CPA for the association from April to August and still not yet returned to the association. It would seem that if the records are still not available, that you either request that you be permitted to inspect and photocopy the records at the office of the CPA or, if this request is denied, you might wish to make demand on the association to provide you with the right to inspect the records. If all else fails to get you access to the financial records, you might need to retain an attorney to demand the association for access to the records. It would be unfortunate if you were required to retain legal counsel, but it might be necessary if all other methods you use to access the records fails.”