COASTAL OBSERVER

Complaints to the state about homeowners associations  on the Waccamaw Neck hit a high last year, with nine reviewed by the state Department of Consumer Affairs.

And one of those complaints led to a lawsuit this month by the owners of two homes in Pawleys Plantation that the property owners association and its management company failed to enforce the community’s design guidelines. They are seeking an injunction to halt construction of a new home.

Complaints about HOAs and POAs have more than doubled since the state adopted the Homeowners Association Act in 2018. There were 452 filed last year. The law, which requires that governing documents be filed, also requires the Department of Consumer Affairs to collect data from complaints. It is contained in an annual report to the governor and legislature.

In the first full year of reporting, there were four from associations in Georgetown County. Last year there were 11, including two from the Georgetown area. Horry County has the most complaints, but Georgetown County ranks second in the number of complaints filed per capita.

That figure may be skewed. A review of this year’s report included four complaints for communities in Murrells Inlet that are in Horry County but were assigned to Georgetown County.

But the nine complaints for Waccamaw Neck topped the six that were filed in both 2023 and 2022.

Failure to adhere or enforce deed restrictions was the source of five complaints. It is also the leading cause of complaints statewide.

It was the  cause of the lawsuit filed against the Pawleys Plantation POA, which came just over a week after Consumer Affairs closed its review of the complaint.

“I’ve never once seen Consumer Affairs take any action,” said Tom Winslow, the attorney who represents the plaintiffs. “It’s something I encourage people to do just so it can be documented.”

The suit involves the construction of a single-family home on Wigeon Drive by Allen and Catherine Briggs. It sits between the homes of Scott and Sally Tutton and Rick and Wendy Peters. 

The Briggs house was approved as a one-story structure, but the suit claims it meets the association’s definition of a two-story house, which should adhere to a different set of building setbacks from the property line.

The suit claims that the architectural review board failed to meet to review the project. The chairman “approved the project unilaterally without following proper procedure,” it says.

In addition to causing problems with the separation between structures and with stormwater runoff, the POA and Waccamaw Management  “have forced the Plaintiffs in a precarious situation with having to sue their new neighbor and community by failing to equally enforce the rules associated within the community,” according to court filings.

They are seeking to halt construction of the Briggs house until the court can rule on the enforcement of the governing documents.

In the complaint to Consumer Affairs, the plaintiffs said the dispute should have been resolved by the POA.

“The ARB hasn’t done anything about it,” Winslow said. “Litigation should be the last thing.”

Waccamaw Neck owners who filed complaints with the department last year are equally divided over whether more enforcement is needed. One of the nine said neither more nor less enforcement would help.

Three said the courts or a state agency should help with enforcement.

Elizabeth Gregg was among those. She filed two complaints last year about the association at The Reserve. In the first, she said the HOA wasn’t evenhanded in enforcing the ARB rule that it said required her to remove the figure of an angel that stood in front of her garage. In the second, she said the association and its management company required her to communicate with them through her attorney after she consulted one over her complaint about compliance with the ARB rules.

“I thought that they would help with it,” Gregg said of Consumer Affairs.  The department marked her complaints “satisfied” after receiving a response from the HOA.

Gregg said she was far from satisfied, but she understands now that the department’s role is to gather information. She would like to see a higher level of enforcement, but said “I don’t know what that level should be.”

After her complaints were filed, the HOA adopted a policy that all of its documents and communications are confidential unless approved for distribution by the board.

A bill introduced in the state House last year would require HOA boards and their committees to conduct open meetings and provide notice of meetings to members. Gregg has urged local lawmakers to support passage.

“The bill would blow that confidentiality policy out of the water,” she said.