In Massachusetts, is it legal for a management company to knowingly lock someone out of their condominium unit?

Question

In responding to a report of a potential broken water pipe, a condo management company gained access to a unit to investigate the possibility of a broken water pipe. The initial call reporting the issue was in the late morning, and the condo mgmt company contacted the unit owner several hours later in the evening. In the interim. The unit owner did not respond to the call, and was unable to access his unit when arriving home later that night. The unit owner was unaware that the mgmt company had accessed the unit and replaced the locks. No message or notes were left for the unit owner. The unit owner is being billed for the cost of a lock smith and a maintenance persons time.

Answer 1

Usually a management company for a condominium has the authority to enter into a unit to fix an exigent problem such as a broken water pipe, that could harm other unit owners, even if this means breaking into the unit. They then need to fix the lock to protect the unit and its contents from thieves and vandals.

The better situation would have been for the management company to have keys on hand before the problem arose. But, since it didn't, it was probably authorized to take these steps. If the owner's contact information isn't adequate to allow the owner to respond and provide access without breaking the door in an emergency, then this problem is basically on the owner when the HOA tried to contract the owner and did not succeed.

It is not obvious from the question whether this was a common area expense that is the HOA's responsibility or a unit owner's expense. The governing documents of the condominium will generally specify who is responsible for which repairs. It is also possible that both the repair and the lock changing costs may be covered by the insurance policy of the person responsible for it (minus any deductible).

Of course, if the facts are as this answer assumes them to be, the management company would have a duty to provide the owner with the new key as soon as possible, probably as soon as the management company opens for business the next day, if not sooner.

Ideally, the management company would have left the key somewhere trustworthy and left a message for the owner about where the key could be obtained. But that is ultimately a fight over the cost of one night in a cheap motel room.

Since the condo owner and the management company are in a long term relationship that neither can exit unilaterally, the owner would be best off focusing on how to make interactions with it more constructive and effective in any future emergency, rather than focusing unduly on the distress experienced as a result of coming home to a unit with a new lock and being locked out of their unit.