HOA managment Companies in SC

We just established a HOA board that homeowners are now on. I am the president, and the managment company we have can not provide me with the proper accounting documents. Does any one know if Managment companies get audited by state since they are handling other peoples money. We are looking into another managment company but we need to know where we stand as of this month with our finances. If any one can tell me what a managment company should supply the board with concerning our membership dues and bills. We have a pool and common areas. This is a development that has 92 homes so far with the developer still in the development with 41 more lots to sell, the builder is going bankrupt and who is to say the developer won't. Please any places we can go for research on the laws about mangment companies would be very welcomed or any advice would also be greatly appreciated.

Hi Donna thank you so much for your reply. We have been paying dues since 2004 and yes we paid them when we bought our houses. The developer is not the managment company but he uses this company for all 23 developments he has. Our board consists of two homeowners and three people who own the development company, so when we ask things of the managment company such as records or audits they call the developer and ask if they have to give this stuff to us. We pay them $2.50 per lot per month and we feel they need to work with the homeowners not just the developer, the developer says since he has been paying our deficit that he should be the only one asking about the records. We are just trying to make sure that if anything happens to developer we can run our HOA sufficently with out them.
Thank you again for your response.

Hi John thank you for your response. I have read every word of the legal documents. That is why we now have homeowners on the board. In January of 2007 the developer should have become a class A member paying the same dues for each one of his lots like we pay, not the deficit and that a board of homeowners be in plkace by this date no matter how many lots he still had in the development that needed to be built on. With that being said and him having 43 lots still open, we as homeowners wanted to work with him and let him just pay the defisit on our development and let him find a new builder to finish the development out. In our documents he could have annexed us or pulled his lots out of our development till they were finished and one by one put the homes in since the land is platted for our development. Which would have meant a very high increase in our dues while he removed the property in the short term. So we all voted to let him pay just the deficit which is way lower than he would have had to pay us. He has found a new builder and they starting building in here again, which we are all glad about.
On to the by- laws it states as president of the board which I am that I am suppose to be co signer on all bank accounts and that no bill is to be paid with out two signatures mine and the managment company. It also atates that we have five on our board with the only position that can hold two spots is Secratary and treasure which is the developer, then the other home owner on the board is VP and the Builders sister and dad are on the board with no tittle. We have a registered agent whcih is the owner of the managment company we currently have. I need to know do managemtn companies get audited every year since they handle other peoples money and what resords I should receieve and if other HOA have there president sign checks even though they have a management company plus what reports I should be given if their are certain lingo is used for these documents.

I really do appreciate this response and you are correct every HOA should read and re read all documents because they are not always written such as ours in lay terms and not always understandable unless notes and highlighting is done. Once we get the development in order by what the documents state and find a managment company that can provide us with what we need to clean things up we should be okay from there on in I hope.

I don't know about SC law but Florida management companies are regulated by the Department of Professional Regulations (much as realtors). You might contact them. The old management company is surely not within the scope of what they can or cannot do. The DPR may be very interested in learning of the acts of your present company.

Danielle:

At the click of the mouse the MC should be able to supply the board members with the financial reports. Each and every month our boards receive their monthly reports. We recently had a turn-over of a new board and the new member asked me for the past 4 months financials...at the click of my mouse he had it in his email box.

Your MC is bound by his contract to fulfill their duties, the most important one is giving the information to the board about your financial health of the community.