A utilities ban, a $3-per-unit registration fee and a foreclosure checkpoint are all being reported as South Carolina law. All three are dead bills
A utilities ban, a $3-per-unit registration fee and a foreclosure checkpoint are all being reported as South Carolina law. All three are dead bills
2026-09-19 · South Carolina · Compliance
South Carolina's 2025-2026 legislative session produced a large volume of detailed, public, quotable HOA bill text and no enacted HOA law. The predictable result is that bill text is circulating as though it described current law — with the bills' own effective dates attached.
Three claims are in circulation. Each traces to a specific bill. None of them is law.
1. "Effective July 1, 2025, an HOA may not control homeowners' utilities"
Source: H. 3425. The bill would have required an association to relinquish control of homeowners' utilities and transfer service to the homeowner, with an operative date of July 1, 2025.
H. 3425 was prefiled December 5, 2024, introduced January 14, 2025, referred to House Labor, Commerce and Industry, and recorded no further action.1 Where an association currently holds or controls utility service — common in regimes with master-metered water or private systems — that arrangement is governed by the declaration and the service agreement.
2. "HOAs must register and pay $3 per unit, and Consumer Affairs can fine board members"
Source: H. 5204. The bill would have required incorporation, registration and directors-and-officers insurance, funded by a $3-per-unit annual fee, and given the Department of Consumer Affairs power to fine board members and property managers personally.
H. 5204 was introduced February 18, 2026 and referred to House Labor, Commerce and Industry the same day. Nothing followed.2
There is no association registry in South Carolina, no per-unit fee, no mandatory D&O requirement, and no agency with power to fine a board member. The Department's own annual report states that it cannot compel participation, require an outcome, or arbitrate.
3. "From January 1, 2026 an HOA must apply for a rule to show cause before foreclosing"
Source: H. 3447. The bill would have added Section 29-3-810 requiring that application before a foreclosure sale could be scheduled on an association lien, operative January 1, 2026.
H. 3447 passed the House 110-2 on February 27, 2025 and was referred to Senate Judiciary on March 4, 2025, where its history ends.3 Passing one chamber is not enactment, and the January 1, 2026 date never arrived.
Why an effective date inside a bill is so misleading
A bill's operative date is a conditional instruction: if this becomes law, it takes effect then. Extracted from the bill and quoted on its own, it reads exactly like a statement of enacted law — a specific date, a specific rule, a specific statutory section number.
Bill text is also written in the same register as statute, because it is drafted to become statute. There is no linguistic marker distinguishing "an association may not" in a bill from "an association may not" in the Code.
H. 3447 compounds this, because "passed the House 110-2" genuinely is a significant legislative event. It is simply not enactment.
How to check any South Carolina HOA law claim
Two authoritative sources answer nearly all of these:
- The Code chapter itself. Title 27, Chapter 30 is the Homeowners Association Act, and each section carries a HISTORY note recording the act that last amended it. Every section in Chapter 30 stops at 2018 Act No. 245, with 2019 Act No. 66 amending Section 27-30-120 only. Title 27, Chapter 31, the Horizontal Property Act, cites nothing later than 2006 Act No. 250.4
- The bill's own history page. A bill that became law shows a ratification number, a signing date and an act number. A bill that did not shows a referral and then silence.
The 2026 act list runs from Act No. 95 through Act No. 277 — 180 acts. Not one subject line names a homeowners association, a condominium, a horizontal property regime, a common-interest community, a property owners association or a community manager. The only Title 27 amendments ratified in 2026 were to Chapter 37, on ejectment, and Chapter 40, on residential landlord and tenant.
Two enacted 2026 acts that are adjacent and get miscounted
Act No. 221 (S. 325), signed and effective May 19, 2026, restructures the Department of Consumer Affairs within the executive branch. It amends provisions in Titles 1 and 37. It does not touch Chapter 30, Article 3 of Title 27, so the Department's HOA complaint-intake and annual-report duties under Sections 27-30-330 and 27-30-340 are unchanged.
Act No. 18 of 2025 (S. 275) is indexed under "EV Charging Stations" and regulates utilities and providers offering charging to the public. It contains no reference to associations, condominiums, multifamily buildings or covenants, and it gives no owner any right against an association.
A citation error worth correcting
H. 3258 is frequently cited as a South Carolina political-sign bill with no session qualifier. In the 2023-2024 session that is correct. In the 126th General Assembly, H. 3258 is a school mobile panic-alert bill with different sponsors, which was still moving in April 2026. A bill number identifies a bill only together with its General Assembly.
Separately, H. 3375 does not appear to have been an HOA political-sign bill in either recent session: in the 126th it concerns state-agency device and application security, and in the 125th it concerns registration plate illumination.
The accurate statement
The South Carolina Homeowners Association Act has not been amended since 2019. The Horizontal Property Act has not been amended since 2006. The 2025-2026 General Assembly enacted no HOA legislation, and every bill filed must be refiled from first reading in 2027.
Related South Carolina HOA Topics
Stay on top of South Carolina HOA law
Every week: new South Carolina legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.