Janies: You said your 20-unit condo has 7 doorways with 3 units per doorway. It sounds like you have 7 attached bldgs ("townhouses"?) with 3 units in each bldg, or is your condo 1 basic bldg with a common foyer/lobby with 7 doorways that go to areas that have 3 units in each area?

If you have 7 attached bldgs, does each one have a basement?That implies that owners in each bldg are the only ones who access their basement. If so, I think they can put a lock on their basement door (if it's not a fire code issue). If all 20 owners have access to the same 1 basement, no owner has no right to put a lock on that basement door.

You/your condo attorney should check governing documents to see if the basement(s) are part of unit space, "limited common space" or common space. This will define what rights your owners have regarding the basement.

You said an owner put a lock on "the door to the basement". Did he put it on a door that goes DOWN to the basement, and is there a door IN the basement that goes to the outside of the bldg or to an area that gets you outside?

If the basement offers a way out of the bldg, a lock on the door (whether the door goes to, or is in, the basement) is a fire code issue. You can't lock any door that people can use to get out of the bldg quickly in an emergency.

Re: the owner who never gets board approval on anything and does what he wants, he doesn't (as you wrote) have "a hard time remembering he lives in a condo." He knows darn well where he lives. He's one of those owners you'll find in all coops/condos who thinks rules don't apply to him.

Don't let him get away with things he should have gotten approval for but didn't and hope it won't happen again. It will, if you let it. Set him straight now and you'll save yourself and your board a lot of time, energy, aggravation, and maybe money. I know from whence I speak, and I know a lot of other posters here share my experience on this.

Being on a board is an ongoing learning experience. Getting owners to understand that they're part of a community is an ongoing training experience. Some owners were renters until now. Some come from their parents' home and never had to do, fix or be responsibile for anything. Some have things explained 50 times but never get it. Some are apathetic if boards are unresponsive or too controlling. Some (like the owner you have, Janies) are self-serving pains around whom the world is supposed to revolve. These last are the worst. For them, rules, etc. have no meaning, and in their eyes, the board is invisible. Talk about "transparency".

But let's give thanks for those owners who send in sublet renewals on time, put recyclables in the right place, call mgmt if they want to do something but aren't sure if it's allowed, put carpeting/rugs on their floors so they don't drive the people below crazy, come to the annual meeting -and may even thank a board member for his hard work and for everything he's doing for the property!

What keeps a good board member going? Yes, wanting to make life better in their coop/condo - and that dear minority of owners who unfailingly make being on the board easier than we expect it to be. End of my sermon. :-)

See you in three weeks,folks. Leaving on vacation tonight.