South Carolina · CondominiumsSouth Carolina condo assessments at sale: the lien, payment from the price and the buyer's statement

South Carolina's Horizontal Property Act deals with unpaid condominium assessments at three points. On the sale or conveyance of an apartment, the seller's unpaid assessments are paid first out of the sales price or by the buyer, ahead of any other charges except past-due taxes and payments due under recorded mortgages (S.C. Code §27-31-200). Unpaid assessments are a lien on the apartment prior to all other liens except tax liens and recorded mortgages and other liens, and may be foreclosed like a mortgage or sued on for a money judgment (§27-31-210(a)). The buyer – other than a foreclosure buyer – is jointly and severally liable with the seller for the amounts owed up to the conveyance, but the council of co-owners must issue the buyer, on request, a statement of the amounts due, and the buyer's liability is limited to the amount in the statement (§27-31-220). A mortgagee or other buyer who takes title at the foreclosure sale of a recorded mortgage is not liable for assessments accruing after that mortgage was recorded and before it took title (§27-31-210(b)). The statute sets no deadline or fee for the statement.