Secure downloadable documents

I am doing a website for a strata/homeowners association using WordPress and am having issues around secure document downloading. I am looking for a simple solution because I will be handing this over to a strata/council member to manage.

We have the need for certain files, usually PDFs of Strata Minutes, AGM minutes etc. to be securely stored on the website. They should be password protected as well as unseen on search engines.

I can password protect a page, which protects the link. But if someone has the direct link to the pdf file, there is nothing to “stop” this direct link from seeing the document.

There would be other files such as PDF forms that would still need to be downloadable without a password on other pages of the site.

I do not want to password protect the entire site. I do not want to password protect each PDF file individually where an owner has to enter UN and PW for each file. Nor do I need different levels of ‘membership’. I don’t need to track how many downloads there are or version control.

The secure part of the website is to be accessed only by owners of that strata. We could have one username and password that changes from time to time. It should not be open for anyone to signup and register.

I have tried several download and membership plugins but have not found a suitable solution.

I have password protected a folder through the cpanel of my webhost and can ‘manually’ place files there. But I cannot create the link to those files when logged into WordPress.. and if I upload through the media library then the file is not secure.

Certainly this isn’t the first strata/homeowners association looking for this solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am not super ‘technical’ myself and hope to find a simple solution. Thanks.