Articles

Public Service Announcement

Complaints Against HOAs/POAs

In 2018, South Carolina passed the Homeowners Association Act. We've covered the impact of this legislation several times at MLCA workshops. One of the features of the act was the creation of a process whereby homeowners could lodge complaints about their POA/HOA with the SC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). DCA received a total of 617 complaints in 2024 but rejected 183 for various reasons leaving a total of 434 verified complaints. A quick review of the complaints found eight in Anderson County, three in Pickens Coounty and two in Oconee County. Full details of the report can be found by clicking this link: consumer.sc.gov/HOA-reports.

February, 2025

Public Service Announcement

Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)—a continuing legal battle

As you can tell by notices from us, the CTA has become a ping-pong ball batted around amongst a host of players. As a reminder, the CTA is a federal law enacted to combat the use of anonymous shell companies for criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing. The CTA requires almost all community associations to disclose board member's information to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). MLCA adamantly opposes including community owner associations under the CTA's wide umbrella.

Click here (members only) for a very brief wrap-up of the legal battles as of 2/23/25.

January, 2025

2024 Annual Meeting

MLCA's 2024 Annual Meeting was held on October 15 at Waterside Crossing's clubhouse. President Ray Plachta reported there were 52 attendees representing 37 communities or about 57% of our total membership.

Ray introduced the current Board, gave a Financial report, a "Year In Review" presentation and presented the Nominations for the Board of Directors. All current Board Members are mid-term except with Jan Barnett, Ray Plachta and Mark Torres. By unanimous consent the Membership approved the recommended three board members, each for another three-year term. Additionally, Ray encouraged any interested members to consider becoming a part of the MLCA Board.

There was a brief discussion on possible future educational programs. Insurance was a topic of great interest. Jay Savan from Harbor Oaks volunteered to research possible "experts" to lead this topic.

Ray introduced Chuck Lovelace who led a spirited discussion on the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). He reviewed issues related to the who, why, how, when and where of the Act. He also suggested that given the current pending legal issues there may be benefit for our Member Associations to join CAI to possibly be included in any possible future exemptions from the Act.

Following Chuck's presentation, Mark Torres walked the members thru the process of obtaining a FinCEN ID and filing the BOI Report on line.

Both Ray's and Chuck's PowerPoint presentations can be viewed on this website. (Members only)

October, 2024

Mandatory Board Education – Good News

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The MLCA Board opposes state or federally mandated HOA/POA board member education requirements. Any association wanting to require education or training for its own board members can already do that by adopting its own regulations, but requiring all owner associations to do the same doesn't sit well with us. Nonetheless, when we learned that CAI (Community Associations Institute) was close to recommending federally mandated board member education requirements, we decided to poll our members to determine your opinions on the issue. Wow! You responded with vigor. Your statements were so impactful that we decided to use them, all of them, in an email from one of our board members to CAI in which MLCA opposed efforts to mandate universal rules on the subject.

Click here for his message, and yours, to CAI.

We have good news! Instead of recommending mandatory requirements affecting all owner associations across America, CAI has announced it will leave it up to each state to decide the matter. Guess why CAI changed its recommendation! It was you! MLCA members' voices turned the issue 180 degrees. According to the Chairman of CAI's Government & Public Affairs Committee, it was your comments that changed everything. It is now up to each state to decide if it wants mandatory board education requirements. We don’t think South Carolina will even consider such a move. After all, it was your response to CAI that halted the drive for a national law. However, if South Carolina surprises us by going down that road, we will oppose it.

August, 2024

Your POA/HOA Not An MLCA Member Yet?

If your owner's association is not yet a member of MLCA, it should be! Click this link for our latest membership brochure for additional details regarding our recent activities and programs as well as a list of our current membership. As we like to say, "NONE of us is as smart as ALL of us!" Together, we can make a difference and improve the effectiveness of all of our owner organizations. Join us!

MLCA Works for You

To ensure that MLCA continues to focus on the right issues, and devotes our energy and resources to areas where you will gain the greatest benefit, we need on-going input of our members. We also have room on our board to add like-minded, pro-active neighbors who, like us, are interested in making the upstate's communities the most effective they can be. If you're a current or former board member of your owners association and would like to work more closely with us, we encourage you to reach out to us at

for more information about joining our board.

Of Interest

Surveys have been conducted to poll area communities asking HOAs questions on wide-ranging topics that could help you or your community tackle some difficult or complex issues. Click the SURVEYS Navigation Link from any page. If your community has an issue or problem with which it could use advice or perspectives from other associations that might have "been there, done that," send some questions to MLCA at

We will take a survey for you.

Recent Survey Results

Click here for full list

Survey: Dues Collection Methods

Stonehaven Association requested a survey on methods of dues collection. The survey covers various means of collecting dues. Click here for results.

Survey: Assessment Coverage

We received 34 responses to this survey requested by Stoneledge. The current survey is similar to one taken in 2012 on assessments. Click here for results.

Survey: Unclaimed Assets in Storage Areas

Stoneledge HOA has requested information regarding unclaimed assets in its storage area. Click here for results.

Query: Entrance Gate Maintenance

Four Points North requested information on entrance gates. Specifically, information about installation/maintenance contractors was requested. Click here for results.

Query: Unkempt Property

Parkview East requested the query below regarding a vacated, unkempt lot. Click here for results.

Query: Late Assessments Interest Query

The Woods at Lake Keowee requested a query on whether it should charge simple or compound interest on late payment of assessments. Click here for results.

Survey: Professional Reserve Specialists

A member requested the names of professional reserve analysts who could be engaged to prepare a reserve study for its community. Click here for results.

MLCA Mission: To provide resources and assistance for area Home Owner Associations (HOAs) and Property Owner Associations (POAs) to more successfully deal with common problems, community issues, and legislation that impact our lifestyle, the lakes, and property values. We seek to leverage the collective knowledge and influence of our member HOAs/POAs in political, legislative, and purchased service areas to achieve this mission.