Hundreds of people showed up to discuss a proposed South Carolina Homeowner’s Association Act. The meeting was held at the Horry–Georgetown Technical College Conference Center near the Market Common in Myrtle Beach.
The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the meeting Wednesday morning. People in attendance discussed a legislative overview by a number of attorneys and association/property management companies. There was also a time for people to get their questions answered about the proposed act.
The South Carolina Homeowners’ Association Act (S. 30) was introduced by the state senate in the 2009 legislative session and is expected to be pre-filed for the 2010 legislative session. S. 30 amends the Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976) by adding Chapter 52 to Title 27, according to a press release from the Chamber.
The bill addresses how associations are set up and governed including openness of association finances and meetings. To association management companies, the bill contains many onerous provisions that conflict with existing state laws and association governing documents and are costly to administer and logistically difficult to perform in some cases. The high number of absentee owners in the Myrtle Beach area poses additional challenges for associations to comply with the act, the release said.
Ed Courtney lives in Pawleys Island, and is active in his neighborhood's homeowners association.
"I think sometimes maybe too much control can be in effect," Courtney said before the meeting Wednesday. "I just want to make sure there's even balance between what the HOA's required to do and what the homeonwers can do," he said.
Chamber officials say workshops and open forums like Wednesday's are the perfect opportunity to get information out and to try to offer up suggestions before any law is passed in Columbia.
"We just want to get the issues out, so we can dissect them before something is run through without any discussion," said Buzz Freeman, part of the chamber's legislative policy council.
Currently, condominium associations are governed by the South Carolina Horizontal Property Act (Chapter 31, Title 27) and may be governed by the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (for nonprofit associations; Chapter 31, Title 33). Single-family associations are governed by the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act. Individual associations establish bylaws and declarations of covenants and restrictions in accordance with these state laws.
The full text of the proposed bill can be viewed online at the South Carolina General Assembly’s website: http://www.SCStatehouse.gov.
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