7 Things a South Carolina HOA Can’t Stop Homeowners From Doing

Your HOA writes a lot of rules.

But even if it doesn’t seem like it, there are limits to what it can control.

Here’s what your HOA can’t stop you from doing under South Carolina law.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Association rules vary by community and are subject to change, so check your own governing documents.

1. Building a Wheelchair Ramp

An HOA that bans exterior changes still can’t refuse you a reasonable wheelchair ramp when a disability makes the ramp necessary.

The state’s Fair Housing Law lists a refusal to permit reasonable changes to an existing home, made at the expense of the person with the disability, as discrimination.

A 2008 statement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice says the federal version of that rule reaches homeowners associations.

Its examples include a ramp at a primary entrance, grab bars in a bathroom, and wider doorways.

2. Calling a Special Meeting

If your HOA is a registered nonprofit corporation, state law gives homeowners a way around a board that won’t schedule a meeting.

Members with five percent of the voting power can demand a special meeting in writing.

The board then has thirty days to give notice of the meeting.

If those thirty days pass without notice, the members who signed can set the time and place and send the notice themselves.

To see whether your HOA is registered, check with the Secretary of State.

3. Raising Kids at Home

A rule against children living in your home runs into the state’s Fair Housing Law.

The law protects what it calls familial status, which means a household with someone under 18 living with a parent or legal custodian.

Age-restricted communities are the exception.

The law exempts housing for older persons, which covers communities built for residents 62 and older and those that meet a 55-and-older standard.

In 2012, HUD charged a Florida townhome association over its occupancy policy.

The policy permitted only six people in a four-bedroom home, and a family with six children faced the threat of eviction.

A federal regulation bars limiting your use of the facilities that come with a home because of familial status.

4. Voting Out Board Members

If your HOA is a nonprofit corporation, homeowners who elect the board can remove a director without cause, under the state’s Nonprofit Corporation Act.

Removal takes as many votes as it would take to elect that director.

Hold the vote at a meeting called for that purpose, and say so in the notice.

When fellow directors, not members, picked a director, two-thirds of the directors in office can remove that director unless the bylaws set a higher number.

If members of a class or unit elect a director in your community, only that group can remove that director.

5. Inspecting Association Records

A nonprofit-corporation HOA can’t narrow your right to inspect its records, according to a 2018 opinion from the state Attorney General’s office.

It reaffirms an earlier 2011 opinion that a nonprofit’s bylaws on member inspection are valid only to the extent they’re consistent with the state records law.

Send your request in writing, at least five business days before the date you want to inspect.

Bylaws, three years of member meeting minutes, and three years of written notices to members are all on the list of records you can see.

Accounting records and the membership list require a demand made in good faith and for a proper purpose.

If your HOA isn’t a nonprofit, the Homeowners Association Act extends similar access to the annual budget and membership lists.

6. Selling Without a Transfer Fee Covenant

A covenant that charges a fee every time a home changes hands can’t bind you if it was recorded after February 1, 2012.

South Carolina’s transfer fee law covers a fee paid to a third party when you transfer your property, or in exchange for permission to do so.

The same goes for a lien that secures the fee.

Some fees are exempt.

Fees paid to the association aren’t covered if they’re used only for purposes its documents authorize and none of the money has to be passed on to a third party.

A real estate broker’s commission isn’t covered either.

7. Filing a State Complaint

State law has the Department of Consumer Affairs receive and record homeowners' calls and written complaints about their associations.

The department sends each complaint to the association or homeowner complained about so that side can respond.

Complaints rose four percent in 2025 over 2024.