Q I have a question. When a management agent of a condominium receives a complaint from a homeowner about another homeowner, is he allowed to tell the homeowner the name of the complainant? Is this ethical and is there a real estate rule about how managing agents are supposed to respond that is standard procedure?

—Concerned in Cicero

A “The manager is not prohibited by any rules from revealing the person filing the complaint,” says Marshall N. Dickler, a principal and senior member of the Arlington Heights-based law firm of Dickler, Kahn, Slowikowski & Zavell, Ltd., “but usually does not and maintains confidentiality to prevent harassment, threats, or other problems. The board does not have to reveal the information even at a hearing on the complaint.”