South Carolina HOA Governing Statute

Overview — How HOAs are governed in South Carolina

South Carolina governs community associations through two parallel statutes rather than a single unified code. Condominiums fall under the Horizontal Property Act. Non-condominium associations operate under the Homeowners Association Act, which took effect May 17, 2018.^{1, 2}

The Horizontal Property Act, S.C. Code § 27-31-10 et seq., is the older statute. It governs what South Carolina law calls horizontal property regimes — condominiums — from creation through operation.¹ The Homeowners Association Act, S.C. Code § 27-30-110 et seq., was enacted as Act 245 of 2018 and covers non-condominium planned communities.²

The 2018 Act works differently from a full common-interest community code. It narrows its focus to document recording, transparency, and complaint handling — not a comprehensive governance framework. Its central recurring requirement: record governing documents and annual rules updates with the county, or those rules lose their legal force.³

South Carolina has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Both statutes are bespoke, and neither carries UCIOA features such as mandatory owner budget ratification. Where the HOA Act's disclosure and recording rules leave off, the recorded declaration and South Carolina common law take over — making this a recently modernized, but still substantially contract-driven, jurisdiction for community associations.⁴

The statutory framework

The South Carolina Horizontal Property Act

The South Carolina Horizontal Property Act, S.C. Code § 27-31-10 et seq., governs condominiums — called horizontal property regimes under state law — from creation through daily operations.¹ An owner creates a regime by recording a master deed (or master lease) that formally submits the property to the Act, as § 27-31-30 requires.⁵ That master deed must contain the particulars listed in § 27-31-100: descriptions of the individual units (called apartments), the common elements, and each unit's percentage interest in those elements.⁶

The Act defines key terms in § 27-31-20, including apartment, co-owner, common elements, and limited common elements. Administration runs through a council of co-owners operating under bylaws required by §§ 27-31-150 and 27-31-160; co-owners may also incorporate under § 27-31-90. The Act addresses shared expenses in § 27-31-190, assessment liens in § 27-31-210, insurance in § 27-31-240, and the council's right of access in § 27-31-280.⁷

The Act supplies the structural baseline. The master deed and bylaws fill in the substantive governance details — CC&Rs and bylaws supplement what the statute provides rather than replace it.¹

Pre-2018 condominium and covenant case law remains good law in South Carolina. In Queen's Grant II Horizontal Property Regime v. Greenwood Development Corp., 368 S.C. 342, 628 S.E.2d 902 (Ct. App. 2006), the Court of Appeals held that a developer may reserve the right to amend restrictive covenants — but only if five conditions are satisfied: the right must appear unambiguously in the original declaration; the developer must hold a sufficient property interest; the developer must strictly follow the amendment procedure; the developer must provide notice in strict accordance with the declaration; and the amended covenants must not be unreasonable, indefinite, or contrary to public policy.⁸ Courts still cite that framework in current covenant disputes.

The South Carolina Homeowners Association Act

The South Carolina Homeowners Association Act, S.C. Code § 27-30-110 et seq., was enacted as Act 245 of 2018 (H.3886) and took effect May 17, 2018 — the first South Carolina statute to directly regulate non-condominium HOAs.⁹ The Act defines homeowners associations in § 27-30-120 as entities managing a planned community or horizontal property regime under a declaration requiring owners to pay assessments. A 2019 technical amendment (Act 66 of 2019) made minor changes to those definitions.¹⁰

The Act builds its structure around disclosure, transparency, and recording. Substantive governance — fining procedures, election rules, detailed meeting requirements — lies outside its scope.³

Section 27-30-130 is the Act's core provision. It ties enforceability to recording: an association must file its governing documents — declaration, master deeds, bylaws, and amendments — in the county clerk of court's, Register of Mesne Conveyance's, or register of deeds office. Rules and regulations must reach the recorder by January tenth of each year following adoption or amendment to remain enforceable. Associations that existed on the effective date had to record by January tenth of the following year. An unrecorded document cannot be enforced against owners.³

The Act also requires at least 48 hours' advance notice before a board vote to increase the annual budget under § 27-30-140 — though that requirement does not apply to associations incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act.¹¹ Section 27-30-150 extends the Nonprofit Corporation Act's document-access provisions to HOAs not otherwise subject to that Act. Section 27-30-160 grants magistrates court concurrent jurisdiction over qualifying monetary disputes.¹²

A companion article established a Department of Consumer Affairs complaint-tracking service under §§ 27-30-310 through 27-30-340. The statute is explicit: the Department cannot promulgate governance regulations or arbitrate disputes. It collects and publishes complaint data — nothing more.¹³

The Act does not impose UCIOA-style budget ratification, detailed election procedures, or owner records-inspection rights comparable to California's Davis-Stirling Act or Florida Chapter 720. A separate seller-disclosure companion — § 27-50-40 — requires sellers to disclose whether a property is subject to HOA governance on the residential property condition disclosure statement.¹⁴

The role of CC&Rs, corporate law, and the pre-2018 framework

For governance questions outside the HOA Act's disclosure and recording provisions, South Carolina remains substantively CC&R-primary. Assessment authority, fining, elections, architectural-standards enforcement, and board procedures all derive from the recorded declaration and bylaws — not from a comprehensive statute.⁴

Because most South Carolina HOAs incorporate as nonprofits, the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1994, S.C. Code § 33-31-101 et seq., supplies corporate governance defaults: meeting procedures, quorums, director duties, and records access.¹⁵

Pre-2018 case law interpreting restrictive covenants remains good law. South Carolina courts construe ambiguous restrictive covenants with all doubts resolved in favor of the free use of the property — a durable canon that applies to current disputes.¹⁶

The practical order of precedence runs from the HOA Act's disclosure and recording provisions (for non-condos) and the Horizontal Property Act (for condos) at the top, then the recorded declaration or CC&Rs, then bylaws, then board-adopted rules. Common-law contract and property doctrine govern interpretation throughout, and courts treat covenants as contracts among owners.⁴

Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

Governance obligations

The Horizontal Property Act sets mandatory governance baselines for condominiums: bylaws governing administration under §§ 27-31-150 and 27-31-160, and record-keeping of receipts and expenditures under § 27-31-180. The master deed supplements these requirements.¹⁷

For non-condominium HOAs, the HOA Act imposes few substantive governance mandates. Board procedures, elections, and fining authority derive from the recorded declaration and — for nonprofit HOAs — from the Nonprofit Corporation Act, § 33-31-101 et seq.^{4, 15}

Act 68 of 2023 (H.4049), effective May 19, 2023, amended the Nonprofit Corporation Act and business corporation provisions to authorize remote and virtual membership meetings and electronic voting at the board's discretion.¹⁸ South Carolina does not require statewide community association manager licensing.¹⁹

Financial obligations

For condominiums, the Horizontal Property Act requires co-owners to share common expenses under § 27-31-190 and authorizes assessment liens enforceable by foreclosure in the manner of a mortgage under § 27-31-210. These provisions are statutory and operate alongside the master deed.²⁰

For non-condominium HOAs, assessment authority, reserves, and budgeting derive from the recorded declaration rather than from the HOA Act.⁴ The Act's only direct financial mandate is the 48-hour advance notice before a budget increase under § 27-30-140 — a requirement that does not apply to HOAs incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act.¹¹ South Carolina has no statutory reserve-funding mandate.

Disclosure obligations

Disclosure and recording are the core of the HOA Act. Under § 27-30-130, a non-condominium HOA's governing documents must be recorded with the county to be enforceable, and rules and regulations must be recorded by January tenth of each year following adoption or amendment to remain enforceable. This is a recurring annual obligation — an unrecorded document cannot be enforced against owners. Associations must also make rules accessible to members on request or by posting in a common area or on a maintained website.³

For nonprofit HOAs, owners may inspect the budget and membership list under Nonprofit Corporation Act provisions incorporated by § 27-30-150.¹² Separately, § 27-50-40 requires sellers to disclose on the residential property condition disclosure statement whether a property is governed by an HOA.¹⁴ For condominiums, the Horizontal Property Act requires master deed recording under §§ 27-31-30 and 27-31-100.⁵

Dispute resolution obligations

The HOA Act grants magistrates court concurrent jurisdiction over monetary disputes that meet the jurisdictional threshold under § 27-30-160.¹² The Act does not mandate internal dispute-resolution procedures, alternative dispute resolution, or a statutory notice-and-hearing process before fining. Where those mechanisms exist, they come from the recorded declaration or common law.⁴

The Department of Consumer Affairs collects and publishes complaint data under § 27-30-340 but cannot adjudicate disputes.¹³ For condominium assessment-lien disputes, the Horizontal Property Act provides for judicial foreclosure under § 27-31-210.²⁰

South Carolina's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Two recently enacted laws reshaped South Carolina associations: one authorized virtual meetings and electronic voting, and one reformed how recorded vendor agreements attach to land.

Recent court rulings

South Carolina courts have examined when a use restriction actually reaches the conduct at issue — finding that even an unambiguous covenant demands a fact-specific violation analysis.

Active legislative debates

Several 2025–2026 session bills seek to expand the HOA Act beyond disclosure, targeting foreclosure procedures, dispute resolution, and financial transparency.

National positioning and related coverage

South Carolina stands apart from many of its peers in one important respect: it is not a UCIOA state, and until 2018 it had no dedicated statute governing non-condominium HOAs at all. The 2018 Act changed that — but only partially. It added mandatory disclosure, annual document recording, transparency requirements, and a complaint-tracking service. It did not add the detailed governance procedures, owner budget ratification, or comprehensive records-inspection rights that California's Davis-Stirling Act and Florida Chapter 720 require.

That narrower scope defines the state's framework. South Carolina maintains two separate statutes — an older condominium law in the Horizontal Property Act, and a newer, thinner disclosure-focused law for non-condominium associations — rather than consolidating them into a single modern community-interest code.

For multi-state operators, the practical implication is direct. South Carolina compliance rests above all on two obligations: diligent annual recording of rules and amendments before January tenth, and careful reading of each association's recorded declaration. There is no single comprehensive statutory checklist. The declaration does the heavy lifting, and an unrecorded rule is simply unenforceable. Federal frameworks, including the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, also apply to South Carolina associations alongside the state statutory scheme described here.

Closing note

Statutory text was verified against the current South Carolina Code on scstatehouse.gov. Third-party summaries were used for context only, not as authority for legal conclusions.

The Hoffman v. Saad Holdings, LLC opinion was filed February 18, 2026, then withdrawn, substituted, and refiled March 25, 2026. A South Carolina Supreme Court petition is listed as pending, which means the decision is final at the Court of Appeals level but could face further review. Verify its status on the South Carolina Courts website before relying on it.

The status of the 2025–2026 session bills reflects information available as of June 5, 2026. Because the 126th General Assembly runs as a two-year session, bills not enacted in 2025 may carry over to 2026. Verify current status on scstatehouse.gov before relying on any bill's status in compliance planning.

This page describes the statutory framework and does not constitute legal advice for any specific association.

Footnotes

1. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-10 to 27-31-320, South Carolina Horizontal Property Act — South Carolina Legislature ↩
2. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-110, Short title; § 27-30-120, Definitions — South Carolina Homeowners Association Act, 2018 Act No. 245 (H.3886), eff. May 17, 2018 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
3. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-130, Enforceability of governing documents; recording requirements; rules, regulations, and amendments — South Carolina Legislature ↩
4. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-170, Construction; no conflict with Nonprofit Corporation Act — South Carolina Legislature ↩
5. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-30, Establishment of horizontal property regime; recording of master deed — South Carolina Legislature ↩
6. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-100, Master deed or lease; required contents — South Carolina Legislature ↩
7. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-180, 27-31-190, 27-31-240, 27-31-280 — Records of receipts and expenditures; common expenses; insurance; council right of access — South Carolina Legislature ↩
8. Queen's Grant II Horizontal Property Regime v. Greenwood Development Corp., 368 S.C. 342, 628 S.E.2d 902 (Ct. App. 2006), Op. No. 4101 — South Carolina Courts ↩
9. 2017–2018 Bill 3886, Act 245 of 2018, enacting the South Carolina Homeowners Association Act — ratified May 14, 2018, eff. May 17, 2018 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
10. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-120, Definitions — as amended by 2019 Act No. 66 (H.3754), § 4, eff. May 16, 2019 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
11. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-140, Annual budget increases; forty-eight-hour notice requirement; inapplicable to HOAs incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act — South Carolina Legislature ↩
12. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-150, Application of document-access provisions; § 27-30-160, Concurrent jurisdiction of magistrates court — South Carolina Legislature ↩
13. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-310 to 27-30-340, Department of Consumer Affairs complaint-tracking services; § 27-30-340(E) bars promulgating governance regulations or arbitrating disputes — South Carolina Legislature ↩
14. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-50-40(A)(9), Residential property condition disclosure; HOA governance disclosure requirement — as amended by 2018 Act No. 245, § 2 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
15. S.C. Code Ann. § 33-31-101 et seq., South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1994 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
16. McCabe, Trotter & Beverly, P.C., "Ambiguity in HOA Covenants" — discussing the South Carolina canon that restrictive covenants are construed with all doubts resolved in favor of free use of property ↩
17. S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-150, 27-31-160, Administration; bylaws; § 27-31-180, Records of receipts and expenditures — South Carolina Legislature ↩
18. 2023–2024 Bill 4049, "Remote Annual Meetings," amending S.C. Code Ann. §§ 33-7-101, 33-31-701, 33-7-102, and 33-31-702 — enacted as 2023 Act No. 68, eff. May 19, 2023 — South Carolina Legislature ↩
19. All Property Management, "South Carolina Property Management Laws" — South Carolina does not require community association managers to hold a real estate broker's license or a statewide CAM license ↩
20. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-190, Sharing of common expenses; § 27-31-210, Lien for unpaid assessments; foreclosure in the manner of a mortgage — South Carolina Legislature ↩
21. 2023–2024 Bill 881, "Prohibition of Unfair Real Estate Service Agreements Act," Act 165 of 2024, signed May 20, 2024; § 27-28-30(C)(4) exempts declarations created under the Homeowners Association Act and Horizontal Property Act — South Carolina Legislature ↩
22. Hoffman v. Saad Holdings, LLC, Op. No. 6138, Appellate Case No. 2024-000794 (S.C. Ct. App.), heard Nov. 12, 2025, filed Feb. 18, 2026, withdrawn, substituted, and refiled Mar. 25, 2026 (Thomas, J.; Williams, C.J., and Curtis, J., concurring) — South Carolina Courts ↩
23. H.3447, Homeowners Association Authority (rule to show cause before foreclosure) — South Carolina Legislature, 2025–2026 Regular Session; S.366, HOA Fees (foreclosure prohibition for primary residence) — South Carolina Legislature; H.3350 (mandatory internal dispute resolution; expanded magistrates-court jurisdiction) — South Carolina Legislature; H.3425 (financial disclosure; utility-payment prohibition) — South Carolina Legislature; none enacted as of June 2026 per South Carolina General Assembly List of Acts ↩