One of our road association members is in arrears for going on 3 years now. We have sent multiple notices and last month sent a certified letter which was returned to us after the USPS did their thing. This owner lives in Pennsylvania. I figured we have done our due diligence and can now file a claim/lien in the County Registry. This particular owner is known for not paying bills including work she has hired contractors to do and she has had a mechanic's lien on her property in the past year. Does anyone else have any thoughts on what to do after the owner does not sign for the certified letter? Thanks. 

Assumimg your road association is a Title 23, about all you can do is to continually follow the collection action procedure year after year if necessary. Make sure you follow through to the recording of Notice of Claim for each year of delinquency. Be sure and keep the USPS Notices as evidence that you followed the law. 

Hopefully some year it will catch up with the delinquent and they will be forced to pay up. Good luck, it requires backbone! 

Assuming that your Association was formed under Title 23 and the required 30 days has passed, I suggest that you record the Notice of Claim as soon as possible. After you receive the recorded copy back with Book and Page noted send a copy to the delinquent. Also do the research to determine if there is a mortgage on the property; if there is, send a copy of the recorded Notice of Claim to the mortgagee. A mortgagee (possibly a bank) may pay off a Claim and add the amount paid to the balance owed. If Foreclosure is imminent be sure to act promptly otherwise you may have to wait until the court settles the Foreclosure which seems to take months.

Once again Good Luck, Peter Dunn