My recent letter to the editor regarding Mount Pleasant’s home-size ordinance focused on a broader idea: regulation often ends up aimed at the wrong problem. Instead of targeting behavior causing community frustration, it frequently impacts ordinary homeowners.

There is another place where Charleston-area residents are increasingly experiencing the exact same dynamic — homeowners associations and, more specifically, the modern HOA management structure.

This is no longer really about whether HOAs should exist. In communities across Charleston County — from Mount Pleasant to Daniel Island to West Ashley and master-planned neighborhoods — most buyers understand why they are there. Covenants protect shared amenities, maintain standards, and help stabilize property values.

In theory, HOAs serve the neighborhood.

In practice, many homeowners now feel they are not dealing with a neighborhood at all. They are dealing with a system.

## The Modern HOA “Middle Layer”

Years ago, HOA governance in Charleston communities was local. You knew someone on the board. Issues were handled through neighbors. Communication happened face-to-face or at least directly.

Today, many associations are operated through third-party management companies handling dozens or hundreds of neighborhoods simultaneously. What once functioned as community governance has evolved into outsourced administrative enforcement.

Owners often communicate through portals, automated responses, or general inboxes. Getting a decision-maker can be difficult. Architectural approvals, fee questions, and violations may involve multiple layers of emails with no clear authority.

At that point, the HOA stops feeling like a community organization and starts feeling like bureaucracy.

## A Real Example in Charleston

I recently experienced this directly during a transaction in Beresford Hall in Charleston.

A simple exterior paint question turned into weeks of back-and-forth. After attempting repeatedly to contact the HOA management company, Sentry Management, it took nearly a month to reach someone with the ability to respond. When I finally did, I was told I should not have suggested a white paint option to the homeowner without first obtaining HOA confirmation — despite the fact that obtaining that confirmation had been exactly what I had been trying to do.

The process was extremely difficult to navigate. Communication was slow, unclear, and inconsistent. At one point I expressed my frustration directly because the system felt unprofessional and unresponsive. Homeowners, agents, and buyers were all waiting on information that should have been routine.

Eventually the issue was resolved, but only after significant unnecessary effort by everyone involved. No one in the transaction was frustrated with the neighborhood or its standards. Every bit of frustration was directed at the process and the inability to reach accountable decision-makers.

And that distinction matters.

## Automation Without Judgment

Technology helps efficiency, but enforcement without discretion creates conflict.

Common homeowner complaints throughout Charleston and Mount Pleasant include:

• violation notices issued without context

• automated late fees

• unclear architectural approval procedures

• long response times

• difficulty reaching an actual person empowered to help

Homeowners are not upset about rules. They are upset about not being able to resolve issues reasonably.

A neighbor-led board can exercise judgment. A centralized administrative system often cannot.

## Incentives and Perception

Management companies perform necessary administrative work, and many do it well. However, homeowners increasingly perceive a disconnect between service and cost.

Fees, transfer charges, resale documentation costs, processing charges, and compliance administration all add up. When communication is difficult and resolution slow, residents begin to feel they are funding a regulatory system rather than a community service.

Trust erodes quickly when owners feel processed instead of represented.

## Why Complaints Are Growing

Across South Carolina, homeowner complaints about HOA management practices have been increasing. The themes are consistent:

• communication barriers

• difficulty disputing charges

• automated enforcement

• escalating penalties

• slow responses

This is becoming less a neighborhood issue and more a consumer experience issue.

## The Connection to Mount Pleasant’s Zoning Debate

This ties directly back to the Mount Pleasant housing ordinance discussion.

Residents are reacting not only to development but to loss of control over their property experience. Whether it is zoning restrictions, architectural review, or HOA administration, the frustration is similar when decision-making feels distant from the people affected.

## A Better Path

HOAs will remain part of Charleston’s housing landscape, especially in planned communities. But effective associations require:

• accessible communication

• transparent processes

• reasonable timelines

• human discretion

• accountability

An HOA functions best when it operates as a service organization rather than a regulatory authority.

## Why Pushback Is Increasing

The homeowner pushback is not really about paint colors, landscaping, or approval forms.

It is about agency.

People accept rules in a community they feel part of. They resist systems they feel subjected to. When residents cannot easily communicate with the entity governing daily property decisions, frustration grows.

Charleston homeowners are not rejecting neighborhoods. They are reacting to process.

Communities work through cooperation. Bureaucracies operate through procedure. When the latter replaces the former, confl

ict is inevitable — and that is why homeowner pushback toward HOA management practices is growing.