Disabling gate access for delinquent owner?

We have a unit that has not paid dues in 3 years (including assessments for a major repair) amounting to over $10K. I am aware that we can restrict access to common amenities such as parking spaces, which we have done. Our small community surrounds a courtyard with electronic gate access. Theoretically, we can restrict access to the courtyard and use of the gate. However, the owner would not be able to enter the unit through the front door if we did. The owner has a garage door that has no restricted entry. Although the owner can enter through the garage, and while it may seem odd to force someone to do so, is there any legal reason why we would not be able deactivate the owner’s gate code such that entry to through the front door is not possible?

PS: As to why the HOA hasn’t foreclosed on such a large debt yet, the bank has been trying to for the past couple of years. The owner keeps filing for bankruptcy to stave off the foreclosure, with each attempt being denied. We do have a lien in place, however.

Yeah, I agree with Glen.

When I lived in PA, a number of years ago, we had a somewhat similar situation (I do not recall many details) where the mortgage company started paying the delinquent association fees. A distinct relief for the HOA!

Jennifer,

I do agree with the others that your association should get a legal opinion BUT I can tell you that it would be highly unlikely that you could restrict his ingress and egress from his unit. But WHY??? has this gone on for 3 years? The bank and your lein don't seem to have enough clout to force payment. Are there no other legal means? But I know that you cannot lock him out.

Thank you all for your responses.

We can run this by our lawyers--I was probably just feeling out an opinion before we cost the association more money. One detail I forgot to mention is that the unit is a townhome (and not a condo), so the front door is literally on the courtyard. While the owner would be able to just walk into the courtyard from the unit, coming back through the gate would not be possible. Any guests would not be able to enter via the gate, either (I suppose they could call the owner's cell and the owner could walk out and open the gate). I noticed, too, that the owner does not have a keypad on the garage door--from the outside, it can only be opened by remote control. I suppose we're grasping at straws at this point, so anything to make life more difficult for the owner could potentially prompt payment, but we're not holding our breath.

I'm not sure why the bank hasn't been able to get anywhere. The last bankruptcy filing shows that the mortgage has not been paid since 2004! We have tried to contact the bank, but they were unresponsive. We've considered foreclosing in the past, but there is no equity and now that the bank is trying again, we figure we might as well let them bear the costs, since the outcome will likely be the same.

Well, we have found out that the bank has filed a motion of relief from automatic stay to get permission to proceed with foreclosure (since the bankruptcy filing had ceased the foreclosure proceedings). The hearing is later this month. Hopefully they will be able to continue with the foreclosure and this mess will get settled.