South Carolina HOA Assessment Limits

Key Findings

South Carolina is a declaration-driven state. The assessment power, its allocation, and any ceiling on increases come from the recorded governing documents, while statute supplies procedural overlays — recording for enforceability, advance notice of budget-increase meetings — rather than substantive caps. The assessment lien collects behind a prior first mortgage. Two parallel and distinct frameworks govern: the Homeowners Association Act for planned communities and the Horizontal Property Act for condominium regimes. The Department of Consumer Affairs collects complaint data but is statutorily barred from regulating assessments or arbitrating disputes. Recent legislative activity (2025–2026) targets foreclosure procedure, budget disclosure, reserves, and magistrate jurisdiction, but none of those bills had been enacted as of June 9, 2026. A 2024 published Court of Appeals decision confirms that the duty to pay assessments is independent of disputes over board spending and that assessment purposes are read broadly from the declaration.

Details

Overview: How assessment authority and limits work in South Carolina

South Carolina places no statutory percentage cap on assessment increases, provides no owner ratification or budget-rejection mechanism, and leaves the assessment power with the board acting under the recorded declaration and bylaws. The state operates under two distinct frameworks: the South Carolina Homeowners Association Act, governing planned communities (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-110 to 27-30-170), and the Horizontal Property Act, governing condominium regimes (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-10 to 27-31-440).¹ The 2018 Homeowners Association Act added disclosure, recording, and notice requirements, but it did not impose a cap or a member veto.

Regular increases take effect when the board adopts the budget under the authority and procedures set out in the governing documents, subject to the Act's advance-notice rule for budget-increase meetings.² Special assessments are likewise authorized and limited by the declaration, master deed, and bylaws, and the resulting lien is subordinate to a prior recorded first mortgage, so a first-mortgage foreclosure extinguishes the association lien.³

On the national spectrum, South Carolina stands apart from statutory-cap states and ratification-mechanism states alike. California, for instance, limits regular assessment increases to 20 percent and bars special assessments exceeding 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses without a member vote, under Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b). States that have adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act go further, letting owners reject a board budget outright. South Carolina takes a different path: the limit is read from the recorded documents, and statute supplies notice and recording overlays — not numeric ceilings. The sections that follow detail authority, limits, procedures, and recent activity.

The assessment framework

Authority to levy and allocate assessments

In a planned community, the board's authority to levy and allocate assessments comes from the recorded declaration of covenants and the bylaws, not from a state assessment statute. The Homeowners Association Act supplies recording, disclosure, and notice requirements that condition enforceability and procedure, but it does not itself grant or quantify the assessment power.¹ The declaration sets the allocation formula — whether equal per-lot shares or a weighted formula — and the board adopts the annual budget that converts that formula into a dollar assessment. The Act defines a homeowners association as an entity managing a planned community or horizontal property regime whose declaration requires owners to pay assessments for a share of taxes, insurance, maintenance, or other common expenses.¹

In a condominium, authority runs through the Horizontal Property Act and the recorded master deed. Section 27-31-190 requires co-owners to contribute pro rata toward common expenses in the percentages computed under the master deed, and no co-owner may avoid contributing by waiving use of the common elements or abandoning the unit.⁴ The master deed fixes each unit's percentage interest in the common elements, and that percentage controls the allocation of common expenses. In both settings, the power is held by the board, exercised through the budget, and bounded by what the recorded instrument authorizes. The South Carolina Court of Appeals confirmed in 2024 that an association's assessment authority is broad where the declaration permits assessments to promote owner welfare, not merely physical maintenance.⁵

Limits on regular assessment increases

The defining feature of South Carolina law is what it omits. There is no statutory percentage cap on regular assessment increases, and there is no budget-ratification or budget-rejection mechanism by which owners can veto a board-adopted budget. The board adopts the budget under the documents, and any ceiling on a regular increase exists only if the recorded declaration or bylaws create one.

The one statutory constraint on a regular increase is procedural. Section 27-30-140 requires a homeowners association to give homeowners at least forty-eight hours' notice before a meeting at which the board acts to increase the annual budget, with notice permitted by posting in a common area, on the association website, by electronic mail, or by methods in the bylaws that ensure actual notice.² That section does not apply to associations incorporated under the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act, which instead follow the meeting-notice rules of that Act.² Any member-approval threshold or hard cap on increases is therefore a creature of the recorded documents, and where the documents impose one, the board must observe it. A board that increases assessments outside the authority or procedures in the documents risks an enforceability challenge, and the Act conditions enforceability of the governing documents themselves on recording in the county clerk of court, Register of Mesne Conveyance, or register of deeds office.⁶

Special assessments, the assessment lien, and its priority

Special assessments are authorized and limited the same way: by the declaration and bylaws in a planned community, and by the master deed and the Horizontal Property Act in a condominium. Whether a special assessment requires a member vote, and any dollar or percentage ceiling, depends on the recorded documents, because no state statute prescribes a special-assessment threshold.

The assessment lien differs by framework but ends in the same priority position. In a condominium, Section 27-31-210 makes unpaid common-expense assessments a lien on the unit prior to all other liens except tax liens and duly recorded mortgages and other liens, and the lien may be foreclosed by suit in the manner of a real-property mortgage.³ In a planned community, the lien arises from the recorded declaration rather than from a statutory grant, and South Carolina associations foreclose judicially. Critically, South Carolina is not a super-lien state. The association lien is subordinate to a prior recorded first mortgage, and Section 27-31-210 confirms that a purchaser who takes title at a first-mortgage foreclosure sale is not liable for common-expense assessments that accrued before acquisition, with that shortfall spread among the remaining owners.³ The association collects behind the first mortgage and relies on the documents and the Act's procedures, not on any statutory priority over the lender.

Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

Planned communities and condominiums: the board adopts the increased budget under the authority and procedure in the declaration, bylaws, or master deed; there is no statutory percentage cap and no ratification step. The only statutory overlay is Section 27-30-140's requirement of at least forty-eight hours' advance notice of the meeting at which a planned-community board acts to raise the annual budget, which does not apply to associations incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act.²

B. Special assessment procedure

Planned communities and condominiums: special-assessment authority, any member-approval threshold, and notice are declaration-defined and master-deed-defined; no statutory rule sets a special-assessment cap. For condominiums, the Horizontal Property Act confirms the underlying obligation to share common expenses pro rata but leaves the special-assessment mechanics to the master deed and bylaws.⁴

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Planned communities and condominiums: there is no statutory percentage cap on regular or special assessments and no statutory ratification or override mechanism. Any cap, ceiling, or supermajority override is declaration-defined, and where the documents are silent the board's budget controls subject only to the notice and recording rules.⁶

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

Planned communities: governing documents must be recorded to be enforceable under Section 27-30-130, and budget-increase meetings require the 48-hour notice of Section 27-30-140.⁶ All associations not subject to the Nonprofit Corporation Act must allow owners to inspect and copy the annual budget and membership lists under Section 27-30-150.⁷ Planned communities and condominiums: magistrates court has concurrent jurisdiction over monetary disputes arising under the Act, subject to the jurisdictional limit of Section 22-3-10, currently $7,500.⁸ Sellers must also disclose HOA membership through the state residential property disclosure form, a separate statutory disclosure tied to resale.

Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

Several 2025-2026 bills propose broader changes, including H. 5204, which would mandate reserve studies and fully funded reserve accounts, and bills to raise the magistrates court civil jurisdiction from $7,500, including H. 3050 and the "Magistrates' Reform Act" (H. 3530), both raising it to $25,000, and the Senate's S. 251, which would raise it to $15,000.¹² None had been signed into law as of the verification date.

National positioning and related coverage

South Carolina occupies the declaration-driven end of the national spectrum. At one end sit statutory-cap states such as California, where Cal. Civ. Code § 5605 limits regular increases to 20 percent and special assessments to 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses absent a member vote. In the middle sit ratification-mechanism states that adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, including Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont, and Washington, many of which also grant a super-priority lien that can prime a first mortgage. South Carolina, like Alabama and Georgia, sets limits through the recorded declaration while statute supplies no cap; its lien is subordinate to a prior first mortgage, and a 2018 disclosure-and-notice overlay governs procedure. For multi-state operators entering South Carolina, the practical implications are direct: read the assessment limit from the recorded documents, give the budget-increase notice before the meeting, and expect to collect behind the first mortgage. Monetary disputes can be routed to magistrates court within the Section 22-3-10 limit, and governing documents must be recorded to be enforceable.

Recommendations

Immediate (any operator or board in South Carolina):

1. Pull the recorded declaration, master deed, and bylaws and locate the assessment-allocation formula and any internally imposed cap, supermajority, or member-vote threshold on increases or special assessments. Treat that recorded text, not any state cap, as the binding limit.
2. Confirm all governing documents and current rules are recorded in the county clerk of court, RMC, or register of deeds. Unrecorded documents are unenforceable under Section 27-30-130, which can defeat a later assessment or lien challenge.
3. For non-incorporated associations, build the 48-hour budget-increase notice (Section 27-30-140) into the meeting calendar and document the method of notice. Incorporated associations should map the parallel Nonprofit Corporation Act notice window (commonly 10 to 30 days in bylaws).

Before relying on the lien (lenders, managers, attorneys):

4. Treat the assessment lien as junior to a prior first mortgage. Underwrite collections on the assumption that a first-mortgage foreclosure extinguishes the association lien and that the shortfall is reallocated to remaining owners.
5. Route delinquent-assessment monetary claims at or below $7,500 to magistrates court for speed and cost; reserve foreclosure for cases with equity above the first mortgage.

Monitor (thresholds that would change the above):

6. Watch H. 3447. If it is signed, add a rule-to-show-cause application before noticing any assessment-lien foreclosure sale.
7. Watch H. 3425 and H. 5204. Enactment of H. 3425 would impose budget-distribution, quarterly-update, and out-of-budget-spending quorum duties with actual-damages-and-fees exposure; enactment of H. 5204 would create reserve-study and reserve-funding mandates that change long-term assessment planning.
8. Watch the magistrate-jurisdiction bills (H. 3050, H. 3530, S. 251). An increase to $15,000 or $25,000 would widen the small-claims route for assessment disputes and shift more collections out of the Court of Common Pleas.

Caveats

• No percentage cap and no ratification exist in South Carolina statute. Any source stating a numeric cap for South Carolina is importing another state's law (commonly California's 20%/5%) and is wrong for this jurisdiction.
• The two frameworks must not be merged. Chapter 27-30 (planned communities) and Chapter 27-31 (condominiums) are separate; the condominium lien statute (Section 27-31-210) does not govern planned-community liens, which arise from the recorded declaration.
• The Department of Consumer Affairs is not a regulator of assessments. It collects and reports complaint data and statute prohibits it from promulgating governance regulations or arbitrating disputes.
• Bill statuses are time-sensitive. H. 3447, H. 3425, H. 5204, H. 3050, H. 3530, and S. 251 were all pending and unenacted as of June 9, 2026. Verify current status on scstatehouse.gov before acting.
• Royal Garden (2024-UP-140) is unpublished and non-precedential under Rule 268(d)(2), SCACR; it is included as an indicator of judicial reasoning, not as binding authority. Chandelle (Op. No. 6078) is published and precedential.
• The $7,500 magistrate limit is current but contested. It reflects Section 22-3-10 as presently enacted; pending bills would raise it.

1. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-110 to 27-30-170, South Carolina Homeowners Association Act ↩
2. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-140, Annual budget increases; notice requirements ↩
3. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-210, Lien for unpaid assessments; right of mortgagee or purchaser at foreclosure sale ↩
4. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-190, Expenses shall be shared, Horizontal Property Act ↩
5. Chandelle Prop. Owners Ass'n v. Armstrong, Op. No. 6078 (S.C. Ct. App. Aug. 7, 2024) (published) ↩
6. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-130, Enforceability of governing documents; recording requirements ↩
7. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-150, Application of access to documents provisions ↩
8. S.C. Code Ann. § 22-3-10, Civil jurisdiction of magistrates court; and § 27-30-160, Jurisdiction of magistrates court ↩
9. H. 3447, Homeowners Association Authority, 2025-2026 Session (126th Gen. Assemb.) ↩
10. H. 3425, HOA, 2025-2026 Session (126th Gen. Assemb.) ↩
11. Royal Garden Resort Regime HOA, Inc. v. Sea Breeze Prop. Mgmt. & Contract Servs., Inc., 2024-UP-140 (S.C. Ct. App. May 1, 2024) (unpublished) ↩
12. H. 5204, Homeowners Associations; H. 3050 and H. 3530, Magistrates' Reform Act; S. 251, 2025-2026 Session (126th Gen. Assemb.) ↩