Myrtle Beach-area representatives file HOA bill to address issues and concerns

State reps. Nelson Hardwick, Mike Ryhal and others have filed a wide-ranging HOA bill that would address many of the concerns residents have about homeowners associations.

The bill would — among other things — limit the time developers could keep absolute control over subdivisions they build; set magistrates court as the venue where homeowner/association disputes can be addressed; require that association and board member names and contact information be registered with the S.C. Real Estate Commission; and provide for open meetings and records.

Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach, acknowledged the single-bill approach is different from the strategy area legislators thought last fall that they would employ.

They said then that they would introduce several single-issue bills in the hopes of more easily moving them through the lawmaking process.

But Hardwick said he and Ryhal’s bill has bi-partisan sponsorship from four counties, both factors in its plus column.

Other sponsors are Rep. Mia S. McLeod, D-Richland; Rep. Deborah Long, R-Lancaster; and Rep. Raye Felder, R-York.

“We’ll see where it goes,” said Ryhal, R-Carolina Forest.

Long is the author of a separate bill that deals with developers control over associations.

Two other HOA bills, including one by Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, are also in the hopper in Columbia.

Rankin’s puts HOA boards under the same basic rules that govern municipal and county governments including for open meetings and records. The fourth bill, from Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, defines the process HOAs must go through to levy fines against homeowners, which is also in the Hardwick/Ryhal filing.

Hardwick and Ryhal’s bill further requires at least four hours of training by people elected to be on HOA boards, an issue also addressed in Rankin’s bill. The training in the House bill, which would be available online, would be developed and administered by the Real Estate Commission.

Hardwick said that the multiple bills could be consolidated and rewritten in committee. The bills introduced by senators have been sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee; those by House members to the House Judiciary Committee.

Hardwick thinks at least one HOA bill has a good chance of getting to a vote on the House floor.

“The bill probably will look different than the way it does now,” he said.

Some clauses might be eliminated. Others might be inserted.

“If (an issue) resonates well,” Hardwick said, “it’ll be on that bill when it comes out of committee.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach-area representatives file HOA bill to address issues and concerns."