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![handle is hein.sag/sagsc0159 and id is 1 raw text is:
ALAN WILSON
ArroRNEY GENERAL
January 3, 2017
The Hon. Mike Sottile
South Carolina House of Representatives
132 Sparrow Drive
Isle of Palms, SC 29451
Dear Representative Sottile:
Attorney General Alan Wilson referred your letter dated July 18, 2016 to the Opinions
section for a response. Please find following our understanding of your questions and our
response.
Issue (as quoted from your letter):
I am respectfully requesting an opinion from your office on whether your office is permitted to
investigate homeowner associations under South Carolina's Nonprofit Corporation Act?
Specifically, I am seeking your office's legal opinion as to whether the State's Nonprofit
Corporation Act applies to homeowner associations established as non-profit corporations? I
also ask, if you find in the affirmative, whether your office may investigate homeowner
associations pursuant to Section 33-31-171 of the South Carolina Code of Laws?
Homeowner associations are prevalent throughout South Carolina. The majority of associations
operate in a manner that promotes the common interest of its members. However, there are
associations that tend to operate in ways that frustrate the intended purpose. The General
Assembly created the Study Committee on Homeowners Associations under Part IB, § 117.135
of the 2015-2016 Appropriation Act. The Committee's charge was to review information,
including, but not limited to, case law, statutes, uniform laws, and other information .from South
Carolina and otherjurisdictions concerning homeownerfi associations. [Citation omitted.] The
Study Committee agreed that South Carolina's Nonprofit Corporation Act applies to homeowner
associations incorporated under that Act. Section 33-31-171 of the South Carolina Code qf
Laws provides that:
[It]he Attorney General, or any qf his assistants or representatives when
authorized by the Attorney General, may make investigations into the
organization, conduct, and management of a nonprofit corporation, domestic or
foreign, operating in this State. Every such corporation shall permit the Attorney
General or any of his authorized assistants or representatives to examine and take
copies of all its books, accounts, records, minutes, letters, memoranda,
documents, checks, vouchers, telegrams, articles, bylaws, and any and all other
REMBERTC. DENNIS BUILDING . PoSTOFFICE Box 11549 * COLUMBIA,SC29211-1549 * TELEPHONE803-734-3970 . FACSIMILE 803-253-6283](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagsc0159&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)