HOA Laws

Does anyone know how many states have HOA laws?

Request for opinion: Which states have the best laws?

And which state has the best laws (homeowner protections)regarding developer controlled HOAs?

SC does have The SC Horizontal Property Act (Title 27) which does apply to multi level condo associations. It does not apply to townhouse, duplex, nor single home HOA's.

There has been a HOA Control Bill around for few years, but it has died in a Senate Hearing Committee. I for one have lobbied my State Rep and Senator to keep it dead. I believe there is enough protection in SC Corporate Law, and an associations own docs to protect owners. I believe most politicians and bureaucrats are not the sharpest knives in the draw so I for one do not want them telling us how to run our associations.

Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont, and West Virginia all have versions of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. The HOA laws in these states are similar.

I think that a person would have to be familiar with the laws in all, or at least most states to be able to answer questions about which states are "best." Also, without some method of qualitative measurement, determining which is "best" would be subjective.

Currently it is perfectly legal (in SC) for an unscrupulous, dishonest, and greedy developer to write a set of one sided documents giving him nearly dictatorial powers to govern the HOA for periods of 25 years or more and attach it to the property with have no requirement for the realtor or closing attorney to share this information with the purchaser prior to purchase of the property is the optimal situation. The Declarant controlled BOD can set the dues, pass the budget, collect special assessments, change to rules, revise the documents, etc. at will with no input or approval of the property owners. This can go on for decades (and has in some developments) and the property owners have no recourse.

Several states have HOA laws to prevent this situation and give some level of consumer protection to buyers who unknowingly purchase in HOA communities under these documents. Evidently the writer believes that dishonest developers do not exist in South Carolina and are confined to other states who have elected representatives who have wisely addressed this issue. He is evidently also naïve enough to believe Developers write the association documents (and do everything possible to hide them) to protect the homeowners.

I have had real estate attorneys tell me if informed purchasers were required (or given the opportunity) to read these documents and/or review them with their attorney prior to purchase the homebuilder would hardly ever sell the property. I have discussed these issues with several attorneys and not one believes there is any current laws that prevent these abuses.

Hi Steve:

I feel the states who have adopted all or part of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) some of which were mentioned above by Bruce are the best and main reason is:

They tend to protect to the best extent possioble equally the Consumer, Developer, and Creditor.

Also, the nice aspect is states who participate under UCIOA can utilize other state Court Decisions with regards to the law for court cases.