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Your rights · South Carolina
South Carolina splits homeowner protections across two uneven statutes. The Homeowners Association Act governs subdivisions with a thin hand: no fine cap, no hearing requirement, and no lien or foreclosure section of its own — its real power is a recording rule that can make an entire declaration, or a single rule, unenforceable if the paperwork was never filed. The Horizontal Property Act governs condos with a heavier one: a real assessment lien, judicial foreclosure, and a mandatory financial-records book you can walk in and inspect. Neither statute hands you a regulator who takes your side; the state's Department of Consumer Affairs logs complaints but is barred by law from arbitrating them.
Guides in this state
Controlling law: South Carolina Homeowners Association Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-110 to 27-30-340) & Horizontal Property Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-10 to 27-31-440)
Last reviewed July 6, 2026· Citations link to the statute text
If you own a lot in a South Carolina subdivision, your association runs on the Homeowners Association Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-110 to 27-30-170), and it is a thin statute. There is no fine cap written into it, no state-mandated hearing before a charge, and, the gap that catches the most owners off guard, no lien or foreclosure section at all. If you own a condominium unit instead, you are under the Horizontal Property Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-10 to 27-31-440), a much older law that is heavier on money mechanics: a real assessment lien with defined priority, a judicial foreclosure process, and a mandatory book of receipts and expenditures the association has to keep open for you to examine.
Knowing which act actually covers you, and which sections in it genuinely exist, matters more in South Carolina than in most states, because the gaps here are as real and as load-bearing as the rights. An HOA board that talks like it has statutory fining power and lien rights identical to a condo association's is often relying on your declaration and general contract law, not on anything Title 27 actually says.
What the state does give you starts with recording. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-130, a homeowners association's governing documents have to be recorded with the county to be enforceable at all, and its rules, regulations, and any amendments to them have to be recorded every year by January 10th following adoption, and made accessible to members on request or through posting, email, or a website, to remain enforceable. An unrecorded declaration or a rule nobody can actually get a copy of is not just sloppy administration; it can be flatly unenforceable against you.
Beyond that, § 27-30-150 gives HOA members a right to inspect and copy the association's annual budget and its membership list, § 27-30-160 lets you take a monetary dispute to magistrate court instead of hiring a firm for a full civil suit, and § 27-30-310 et seq. creates a Department of Consumer Affairs complaint process that logs disputes and forwards them to your association for a response, though the statute is explicit that the department will not act as your referee. Condo owners layer the Horizontal Property Act's real lien, foreclosure, and financial-records provisions on top of all of that, covered topic by topic below.
The local twist
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-130 requires an HOA's governing documents to be recorded to be enforceable, and its rules, regulations, and amendments to be recorded every year by January 10th and made accessible to members. An unrecorded declaration or an inaccessible rule can be challenged as unenforceable, full stop.
Section 27-30-140 requires 48 hours' notice before a vote to raise the annual budget, but subsection (2) says the whole section does not apply to an association incorporated under the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act, which describes the overwhelming majority of South Carolina HOAs. The notice right exists; it just rarely reaches the owners who'd use it.
The Homeowners Association Act (§§ 27-30-110 to 170) never creates an assessment lien or foreclosure process for subdivisions; that power, if it exists at all, lives entirely in your declaration. Condo owners get a real one: § 27-31-210 gives the council of co-owners a lien with defined priority, foreclosed only by court suit like a mortgage, never a private sale.
Owner guides
Each guide explains your rights from the owner’s side, cites the controlling statute, walks the steps, and answers the questions boards hope you won’t ask.
Notice, hearing, and cure rights before a fine can stick.
When unpaid dues become a lien, and what limits foreclosure of your home.
The books and records you can inspect, how to ask, and the clock the board is on.
Quorum, ballots, proxies, recalls, and open-meeting rights that check board power.
ARC timelines, approvals, and the laws that protect solar, flags, and antennas.
Fined when a neighbor wasn't? How the docs and statute frame the defense.
South Carolina Homeowners Association Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-30-110 to 27-30-340) & Horizontal Property Act (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 27-31-10 to 27-31-440), full text, section by section — the primary source behind every guide above.
The HOA and condo legislation we track in South Carolina, with plain-English notes on what each bill means for homeowners.
The violation-letter analyzer reads your fine or notice and points you at the South Carolina rights that apply.
Browse South Carolina associations — homeowner reviews, ratings, and the public records behind each community.