South Carolina
HOA laws.

The direct answer

What the Act does

The South Carolina Homeowners Association Act became law in May 2018 and sits at Title 27, Chapter 30 of the state code. It applies to communities and horizontal property regimes where owners are required to pay assessments.

• ✓Governing documents must be recorded. Documents must be recorded in the public records of the county where the property is located in order to be enforceable, and associations already in existence were given a deadline to file.
• ✓Notice before a budget increase. Homeowners must be given notice at least 48 hours before the meeting at which a decision to raise the annual budget is made.
• ✓Access to documents. Owners have access to inspect and copy the association's annual budget and membership list.
• ✓Magistrate court jurisdiction. Magistrates were given jurisdiction over certain monetary disputes between associations and homeowners.
• ✓Seller disclosure. The residential property condition disclosure was amended to require a seller to disclose that a property is governed by a homeowners association.
• ✓Complaint data collection. The Department of Consumer Affairs must collect data from HOA complaints and report to the Governor, the General Assembly and the public by January 31 each year.

Who regulates HOAs in South Carolina

No agency will overturn your HOA's decision

This is the most common misunderstanding we hear, and the honest answer matters.

You can file a complaint about an association with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, and it will be counted. But the Department states plainly that it does not administer or enforce the Homeowners Association Act. Its complaint process is voluntary mediation: it cannot force an association or a homeowner to take part, cannot require a particular outcome, and does not arbitrate the dispute.

The numbers show what that means in practice. In the 2026 report, of the complaints included, about 68 percent were closed simply because the business responded adequately, roughly 19 percent were closed undetermined because the facts were disputed, and consumers were recorded as satisfied with the outcome in under one percent of cases.

So there is a place to file. There is not a regulator who will make your association do what you want. Your real routes are the association's own process, magistrate court for certain monetary disputes, or a South Carolina attorney. Which is precisely why the reading happens before you buy.

What owners are asking for

The changes homeowners themselves recommend

The state's report also records what complainants say should change. State agency oversight was the leading recommendation for enforcing governing documents at 31 percent, followed by a dispute resolution process inside the association at 26 percent, enforcement through magistrate court at 16.8 percent and an HOA ombudsman at 16.6 percent.

On the documents themselves, the top requests were open meetings and notice requirements, clearer rules for viewing and copying records, and forbidding associations from placing liens or foreclosing. Useful context if you want to know where this law may go next.

Sources. South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, 2026 Homeowners Association Annual Report (calendar year 2025 data), and the South Carolina Homeowners Association Act, S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 30. Verified July 2026. This is general information about how associations work, not legal advice.

Buying into an association?

We read the documents against how you actually plan to live, before you are committed.

Common questions

South Carolina HOA law FAQ