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Law passed by NC Senate looks to limit power of HOAs
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A bill moving through the North Carolina General Assembly could limit the power of homeowners associations across the state. Senate Bill 378 passed the state Senate 47-0 last week and now heads to the House for consideration. If approved, the bill would place a cap on HOA fines, bar foreclosures over unpaid […]

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A bill moving through the North Carolina General Assembly could limit the power of homeowners associations across the state.
Senate Bill 378 passed the state Senate 47-0 last week and now heads to the House for consideration.
If approved, the bill would place a cap on HOA fines, bar foreclosures over unpaid HOA fines, and ban HOAs from fining people who run home businesses like music lessons or tutoring services.
Charles Williams with NC Citizens for HOA Reform says the state still has a long way to go, but this is a step in the right direction.
“There is not a single agency in this state that has oversight of the HOA industry. So, if you have a problem, there is really no place as a homeowner for you to go,” he explained.
Williams says North Carolina has some of the weakest HOA laws in the country.
For more than a decade, similar bills have been introduced in the NC House and Senate, but none of them have become law.
“My counterpart on the other side of the issue, they’ve got some really good attorneys, they’ve got some really deep pockets, and they have some good lobbyists,” Williams noted.
One such bill is House Bill 444, sponsored by representative Frank Iler of Brunswick County. It would have placed several regulations on HOAs, but missed a key deadline to pass the house.
Iler says he’s yet to read all of SB 378, but hopes to add parts of his bill to it.
“I just got to get my checklist out of what all needs to be in there and then, of course, we can amend it,” he said.
Iler—who has sponsored other HOA legislation in the past—says the issue isn’t about HOAs as a whole, just the bad actors.
“We got 2,000 municipalities, 14,000 HOAs. If 5% are not happy, that’s 700,” Iler noted. “So, that’s still a big number, and the letters and emails just keep coming in.”
Williams agrees, saying responsible HOAs have nothing to fear.
“I mean if you’re a well-run HOA doing everything the way you should do it, this bill only supports you,” he said.
The bill passed first reading in the house last week and will now wait in committee until it’s brought up for a vote.