Reference is to Printer's Date 3/29/18-S.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by deleting all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Title 27 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 27-30-110. This article may be cited as the 'South Carolina Homeowners Association Act'.
Section 27-30-120. As
used in this article:
(1) 'Board' means the
representative body, regardless of name, designated in the
governing documents to act on behalf of a homeowners association
and govern the association.
(2) 'Declarant' means a
person or group of persons acting in concert who:
(a)
as part of a common promotional plan, subdivide and offer
to dispose of an interest the person or group has in a unit in
real property; or
(b)
reserve or succeed to a special declarant right, which
means a right created under the declaration or bylaws for the
person or group to retain or exercise authority in addition to
regular declarant rights in a unit of real property.
(3) 'Declaration' means
the recorded instruments, however denominated, that create a
homeowners association, including amendments to those
instruments.
(4) 'Governing
documents' means declaration, master deeds, or bylaws, or any
amendments to the declaration, master deeds, or bylaws.
(5) 'Homeowner' means a
declarant or other person who owns a unit in a homeowners
association, but does not include a person having an interest in
such a unit solely as security for an obligation.
(6) 'Homeowners
association' or 'association' means an entity developed to
manage and maintain a planned community or horizontal property
regime for which there is a declaration requiring a person, by
virtue of his ownership of a separate property within the
planned community or horizontal property regime, to pay
assessments for a share of real estate taxes, insurance
premiums, maintenance, or improvement of, or services or other
expenses related to, common elements and other real estate
described in that declaration. A 'homeowners association' or
'association' does not include a vacation timesharing plan
organized and subject only to the provisions of Chapter 32.
(7) 'Homeowners
association management company' means a corporation, limited
liability company, partnership, trust, association, sole
proprietorship, or other similar organization engaging in the
business of managing homeowners associations.
(8) 'Unit' means an
apartment in a horizontal property regime, or a lot in a
subdivision.
Section 27-30-130. (A)(1)
Except as otherwise provided in this section, in order to
be enforceable, a homeowners association's governing documents
must be recorded in the clerk of court's, Register of Mesne
Conveyance (RMC), or register of deeds office in the county
where the property is located.
(2)
To continue to be enforceable, any governing document not
recorded prior to the effective date of this section must be
recorded by January 10 of the year following the effective date
of this section in the clerk of court's, Register of Mesne
Conveyance (RMC), or register of deeds office in the county
where the property is located.
(B)(1) Rules,
regulations, and amendments to rules and regulations:
(a)
are effective upon passage or adoption,
(b)
must be made accessible to a homeowners association member
upon the request of that member of the homeowners association,
and, at the option of the homeowners association, via electronic
mail or through methods provided by the homeowners association's
bylaws that ensure actual notice, unless they are:
(i)
posted in a conspicuous place in a
common area in the community,
(ii)
available on an Internet website maintained by the
homeowners association, where they may be downloaded by the
homeowner.
(2)
In order to remain enforceable, a homeowners association's
rules, regulations, and amendments to rules and regulations must
be recorded in the clerk of court's, Register of Mesne
Conveyance (RMC), or register of deeds office in the county in
which the property is located by January 10 of each year
following their adoption or amendment.
(C) Homeowners
associations in existence on the effective date of this section
must record the documents required by subsections (A)(1) and
(B)(2) by January 10 following the effective date of this
section.
(D) The recording of
the rules, regulations, bylaws, and amendments to rules and
regulations are not subject to the requirements of witnesses and
acknowledgements required under Section 30-5-30.
Section 27-30-140. (1)
Before a homeowners association may take
action to increase an annual budget in any single year, the
homeowners association must provide notice to homeowners at
least forty-eight hours in advance of the meeting in which a
decision to raise the annual budget is made. Notice of the
meeting may be through posting notice:
(a)
in a conspicuous place in a common area in the
community,
(b)
on an Internet website maintained by the homeowners'
association,
(c)
by electronic mail, or
(d)
through methods provided in the association bylaws that
ensure actual notice.
(2) The provisions of
this section do not apply to a homeowners association that is
incorporated under the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act
found in Chapter 31, Title 33.
Section 27-30-150. The access to documents provisions of Sections 33-31-1602, 33-31-1603, 33-31-1604, and 33-31-1605 apply to all homeowners associations not subject to the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act for the purposes of allowing homeowners access to inspect and copy a homeowners association's annual budget and homeowners membership lists.
Section 27-30-160. Pursuant to Section 22-3-10, the magistrates court shall have concurrent jurisdiction to adjudicate monetary disputes arising under this article, provided the dispute meets the jurisdictional requirements of Section 22-3-10.
Section 27-30-170. No provision of this article may be construed to be in conflict with the provisions of the South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act.
Section 27-30-310. This article must be known and may be cited as the 'Department of Consumer Affairs Services for Homeowners and Homeowners Associations Act'.
Section 27-30-320. For
the purposes of this article:
(1) 'Board' means the
representative body, regardless of name, designated in the
governing documents to act on behalf of a homeowners association
and govern the association.
(2) 'Bylaws' means the
document, and amendments to it, that contain the procedures for
conducting the affairs of a homeowners association, regardless
of the form of the association's legal entity or the name by
which the document comprising the bylaws is identified.
(3) 'Declarant' means a
person or group of persons acting in concert who:
(a)
as part of a common promotional plan, subdivide and offer
to dispose of an interest the person or group has in a unit in
real property; or
(b)
reserve or succeed to a special declarant right, which
means a right created under the declaration or bylaws for the
person or group to retain or exercise authority in addition to
regular declarant rights in a unit of real property.
(4) 'Declaration' means
the recorded instruments, however denominated, that create a
homeowners association, including amendments to those
instruments.
(5) 'Department' means
the Department of Consumer Affairs.
(6) 'Homeowner' means a
declarant or other person who owns a unit in a homeowners
association, but does not include a person having an interest in
such a unit solely as security for an obligation.
(7) 'Homeowners
association' or 'association' means an entity developed to
manage and maintain a planned community or horizontal property
regime for which there is a declaration requiring a person, by
virtue of his ownership of a separate property within the
planned community or horizontal property regime, to pay
assessments for a share of real estate taxes, insurance
premiums, maintenance, or improvement of, or services or other
expenses related to, common elements and other real estate
described in that declaration. A 'homeowners association' or
'association' does not include a vacation timesharing plan
organized and subject only to the provisions of Chapter 32.
(8) 'Homeowners
association management company' means a corporation, limited
liability company, partnership, trust, association, sole
proprietorship, or other similar organization engaging in the
business of managing homeowners associations.
(9) 'Unit' means an
apartment in a horizontal property regime, or a lot in a
subdivision.
Section 27-30-330. The
department is authorized to include on its publicly available
Internet website:
(1) information for
homeowners and homeowners associations concerning how they may
contact the department on its toll free number or submit
complaint forms;
(2) information
concerning the governance of homeowners associations as provided
in this chapter and other provisions of the South Carolina Code
of Laws; and
(3) educational and
reference materials about homeowners associations, including
general information about the roles, rights, and
responsibilities of the board, declarant, homeowners, and other
parties.
Section 27-30-340. (A)
The department shall receive and record data
from any calls or written complaints from homeowners or
homeowners associations.
(B) When a call or
written complaint is received, the department shall, at a
minimum, include the following information to be completed on a
form completed by a homeowner or homeowners association or, if
received by telephone, on a form completed by a department
employee who is identified on the form:
(1)
homeowner's name;
(2)
name of the homeowners association and their contact
information, including the county and city where it is
located;
(3)
name of the homeowners association management company, if
any, and its contact information, including telephone number,
owner's name, and street and mailing addresses;
(4)
whether a homeowner:
(a)
was informed of the requirement of membership in a
homeowners association as a condition of home ownership,
including when that information was provided and by whom;
(b)
received a copy of the governing documents of the
homeowners association and if the copy was obtained before or
after receiving title to the unit;
(c)
was denied access to the governing documents and, if so,
what remedies the homeowner took to obtain the governing
documents;
(d)
understands his rights and obligations under the governing
documents;
(5)
the nature of the homeowner's or homeowners association's
complaint;
(6)
whether the homeowner attempted to communicate his
complaint to the homeowners association or homeowners
association management company, if any, and whether the
homeowner exhausted all of his remedies in accordance with any
terms set out in the homeowners association governing documents
or rules and regulations, what action, if any, the homeowners
association or homeowners association management company, if
any, took concerning the complaint;
(7)
whether the homeowners agrees or disagrees with the
provisions of the governing documents;
(8) whether the
homeowner agrees or disagrees with how the provisions where
enforced, his recommendations for changing the provisions or
means of enforcement, and whether the homeowner feels that more
or less enforcement is needed; and
(9p)
any response received from a homeowners association or
homeowner, relative to a specific complaint provided by the
department and whether or not a response was provided by the
applicable homeowners association or homeowner.
(C) Upon receiving a
homeowner's or homeowners association's complaint, the
department shall provide the complaint to the homeowners
association or the homeowner complained against in a manner that
verifies receipt of such complaint by the homeowners association
or homeowner, so the homeowner, board, or homeowners association
may determine if the homeowner, board, or homeowners association
desires to make a response to the complaint.
(D) By January
thirty-first of each year, the department shall make a report of
all data collected from the full report categories collected and
complaints received as provided in this section to:
(1)
the Governor and the General Assembly, and
(2)
the public through the department's website. The public
report must include categorized, filterable, and searchable
information compiled from the complaints and responses and
redact any personal or private information, such as names,
addresses, and telephone numbers, contained in the complaints
and responses. This redaction requirement does not apply to
information concerning a homeowners association and a homeowners
association management company.
(3)
For data to be included in the report, the form must be
executed by the homeowner, homeowners association, or department
employee.
(E) Under the
provisions of this article, the department is prohibited
from:
(1)
promulgating regulations or issuing guidelines concerning
homeowners association administration, governance, or governing
documents; or
(2)
serving as an arbiter in disputes between the homeowner
and homeowners association."
SECTION 2. Section 27-50-40(A) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 141 of 2010, is further amended to read:
"(A) Except for
transactions exempted under Section 27-50-30, the owner of the
real property shall furnish to a purchaser a written disclosure
statement. The disclosure statement must contain the language
and be in the form promulgated by the commission and the form
may be delivered electronically through the Internet or other
similar methods. The commission may charge a reasonable fee for
the printed form but shall post the form for free downloading on
its public website. The disclosure statement must include, but
is not limited to, the following characteristics and conditions
of the property:
(1)
the water supply and sanitary sewage disposal system;
(2)
the roof, chimneys, floors, foundation, basement, and
other structural components and modifications of these
structural components;
(3)
the plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and other
mechanical systems;
(4)
present infestation of wood-destroying insects or
organisms or past infestation, the damage from which has not
been repaired;
(5)
the zoning laws, restrictive covenants, building codes,
and other land-use restrictions affecting the real property, any
encroachment of the real property from or to adjacent real
property, and notice from a governmental agency affecting this
real property;
(6)
presence of lead-based paint, asbestos, radon gas, methane
gas, underground storage tank, hazardous material or toxic
material, buried or covered, and other environmental
contamination;
(7)
existence of a rental, rental management, vacation rental,
or other lease contract in place on the property at the time of
closing, and, if known, any outstanding charges owed by the
tenant for gas, electric, water, sewerage, or garbage services
provided to the property the tenant leases;
(8)
existence of a meter conservation charge, as permitted by
Section 58-37-50, that applies to electricity or natural gas
service to the property; or
(9)
whether the property is subject to governance of
a homeowners association, as provided in Chapter 30 of this
title, which carries certain rights and obligations that may
limit the use of his property and involve financial
obligations."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.