Building liability for unsafe conditions in inaccessible condo unit

[showtime]

Tough question from my condo board. We have a delinquent condo owner in our building who owns a long vacant, ground floor and basement duplex unit. She's got a lot of family money, and has been in a long running legal dispute with the building. She hasn't been paying common charges for years and has managed to avoid court dates, so the litigation has never been resolved. The condo board has put common charge liens on her unit so she can't sell, but it doesn't do us any good as it doesn't seem like she'll ever need to sell.

The problem is we don't have access to her apartment. There's already been a water leak which damaged a neighbor's unit. We're sure her apartment in terrible shape. Is there any liability for the building if the city issues a violation because of unsafe conditions as a result of her apartment?

I recall we did forcibly enter the building once for an emergency, but her lawyer said that we caused damage etc. and might have even sued us for supposed damages. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Any levers we can pull?

[aslan]

I spoke with a very knowledgeable real estate attorney about this (we had a similar situation a troublesome heiress in our building) and even he was stumped. His main piece of advice is that we need to finish the litigation and get her to show up at court.

In terms of access, he says yes you certainly have the right to forcibly enter if there is a legitimate emergency. However, he says be very careful about forcing your way in otherwise, and don't even think about doing anything like changing the locks unilaterally. This isn't a co op!