For HOA members, South Carolina's only meeting-notice statute is narrow and worth reading closely, including the part most owners never get to. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-140 requires the board to give homeowners at least 48 hours' notice before a meeting where it decides to increase the annual budget, and it lists acceptable notice methods: posting in a common area, an association website, email, or a bylaws-specified method that ensures actual notice. Subsection (2), though, says the entire section does not apply to a homeowners association incorporated under the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (Title 33, Chapter 31). Most South Carolina HOAs are incorporated nonprofits, which means this one statutory notice right often does not reach the very owners it seems written for. Confirm your association's corporate status before you assume § 27-30-140 protects you.
Condo votes: majority, quorum, and the thresholds that raise the bar
The Horizontal Property Act is more built out. S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-160 requires the bylaws to spell out how co-owners are summoned to meetings, and confirms that a majority of at least fifty-one percent is required to adopt decisions, echoing the definition in § 27-31-20, where a 'majority of co-owners' means fifty-one percent or more of the property's basic value, and the same council of co-owners generally needs that majority present to have a quorum at all. Bigger changes carry bigger thresholds. Modifying the entire system of administration takes at least a two-thirds value vote and is not effective until it's recorded, under § 27-31-160. Waiving the horizontal property regime altogether, essentially un-condo-ing the building, generally requires unanimous consent of every co-owner, with a carve-out down to two-thirds only for nonprofit long-term care or life care facilities, under § 27-31-130. And a vote not to rebuild after fire or other damage needs at least eighty percent approval, a floor the bylaws can raise but never lower, under § 27-31-250.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-30-140
Requires 48 hours' notice before a vote to increase the HOA's annual budget, but expressly does not apply to an association incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act.
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-160
Requires condo bylaws to set the method of calling meetings and confirms a 51% majority to adopt decisions; sets a two-thirds vote to modify the system of administration.
S.C. Code Ann. § 27-31-250
Requires at least an 80% co-owner vote not to rebuild after damage or destruction, a floor the bylaws may raise but never lower.
Step by step
How to check your South Carolina HOA or condo meeting and vote rights
Steps to confirm whether a South Carolina HOA budget vote or a condo governance vote actually met its statutory notice, quorum, or threshold.
- 01
Check your HOA's corporate status
Look up your association with the SC Secretary of State or ask the board directly whether it's incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act. That answer decides whether § 27-30-140's 48-hour notice rule even applies to you.
- 02
If it applies, confirm the notice was actually given
Check whether the board posted, emailed, or otherwise noticed the budget-increase meeting at least 48 hours in advance, through one of the methods § 27-30-140 lists.
- 03
Condo owners: check the bylaws' notice method and the 51% majority
Confirm your association followed the meeting-notice method its own bylaws specify under § 27-31-160, and that the vote actually cleared the 51% majority the statute requires to adopt a decision.
- 04
Match the vote to its real threshold
Before treating a big vote as final, confirm whether it needed a simple 51% majority, a two-thirds vote (modifying the administration system), unanimous consent (waiving the regime), or 80% (declining to rebuild), and whether the result actually met that bar.
- 05
Raise defects in writing before the vote is treated as final
If notice, quorum, or the required threshold was missed, object in writing and ask that the defect and your objection be recorded in the minutes before the association relies on the outcome.
Straight answers
Common questions
Does South Carolina require my HOA to notice meetings?
Only in one narrow situation: 48 hours before a vote to increase the annual budget, under § 27-30-140. And that requirement doesn't apply if your HOA is incorporated under the SC Nonprofit Corporation Act, which most are. Outside that, meeting notice comes from your declaration and bylaws.
What counts as quorum for my condo association's vote?
Under §§ 27-31-160 and 27-31-20, a majority, at least 51% of the property's basic value, is required to adopt decisions, and that same 51% generally sets the council of co-owners' quorum absent a different bylaws provision.
Can my condo association change its entire management structure on a simple majority?
No. Modifying the system of administration set out in the bylaws takes at least a two-thirds value vote under § 27-31-160, and the change isn't effective until it's recorded in the same manner as the original bylaws.
Can the board decide not to rebuild after a fire without a real vote?
No. Section 27-31-250 requires at least 80% co-owner approval, including owners whose units won't be rebuilt, before the association can choose not to repair or replace damaged property. Bylaws may set a higher bar, never a lower one.