Q: I live in a condominium, and our cluster mailboxes have been broken since August. I have to go to the local post office to get my mail, as do all of the other residents, and sometimes I wait in a 30-minute line. Our association says it's working on it, but it has been several months. Is this legal to deny residents from getting personal mail where they live? Why doesn't the post office deliver door to door until this is resolved?
_Joanne
A: This is an issue that seems to be affecting more people lately. Door-to-door delivery is expensive, so the U.S. Postal Service changed the rules a few years ago to require that developers and builders put in cluster mailboxes instead of individual boxes. Of course, cluster mailboxes for condos have been the norm for quite some time.
If your mailbox is not up to standards, or if it is broken, as in your case, your postal carrier will not deliver to your box and will hold your mail to be picked up at your local post office. Legally, your mailbox is owned by the post office, making tampering with it a federal crime, but you are responsible for its maintenance.
The problem here seems to be about the extended length of time that your association is taking to fix the boxes. Several months is just too long, in my opinion. You should speak to your association about speeding up the process. If you do not get an acceptable answer, talk to an attorney about your options to force the issue.
