## Facts

- River Terrace Condominium Association managed a multi-unit condominium building where cockroaches were found in common areas and multiple units.
- Cockroaches were observed in the hallway outside Dora Stewart Lewis’s unit and in an adjoining unit sharing a common wall with her unit.
- The association hired a professional exterminator to conduct a coordinated treatment program, including spraying individual units.
- Exterminator testimony indicated cockroaches carry bacteria, travel through building conduits (wiring, pipes, ducts), and migrate from treated to untreated areas; roaches found on multiple sides of a unit suggested likely presence inside the unit.
- The association sought access to Lewis’s unit to treat it as part of the building-wide effort; Lewis refused entry, citing chemical sensitivity, a prior pet’s death she attributed to chemicals, and her lack of personal observation of roaches in her unit.
- The condominium declaration and Ohio condominium law subjected units to a right of access for maintenance or service of common elements and for measures needed for public safety or to prevent damage to condominium property.
- Lewis provided no medical or expert evidence that the proposed chemicals posed a unique or undue health risk to her.

## Issues

1. Whether the Ohio Condominium Act and the condominium declaration authorized the association to enter a unit over the owner’s objection to perform extermination reasonably necessary to protect health and safety and to prevent damage or spread to other units and common elements.
2. Whether the association’s demand for access to Lewis’s unit as part of a coordinated extermination program was reasonable in light of the evidence and Lewis’s unsupported health concerns.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s judgment for the association.
- The association had a right of entry under the governing statute and declaration to exterminate cockroaches where the condition implicated health and safety and threatened other units and common areas.
- The association acted reasonably in requiring simultaneous treatment, and Lewis could not block entry based on speculative or unsupported objections.
- Lewis was enjoined from refusing access, permitting entry for extermination.

## Legal Principles

- A condominium unit is subject to a statutory and declaration-based right of access by persons authorized by the association for bona fide purposes involving maintenance, repair, or service of common elements, and for measures reasonably required for public safety or to prevent damage to condominium property.
- An association’s exercise of unit-entry authority is enforceable when supported by evidence and carried out reasonably to address conditions that can harm occupants or other units/common elements.
- A unit owner’s right to exclude is limited by condominium governance documents and applicable condominium statutes; unsupported personal concerns do not override a properly authorized and reasonable entry for community protection.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the association’s authority to compel access to a unit for coordinated cockroach extermination because the governing statute and declaration permitted entry for safety and property-protection purposes, and the association’s response was reasonable while the owner’s health objections lacked supporting evidence.


River Terrace Condominium Ass'n v. Lewis, 33 Ohio App. 3d 52, 514 N.E.2d 732 (Ohio Ct. App. 1st Dist. 1986)