Payment Refused



This morning I went to the office of the HOA's lawyer, McCabe, Trotter, and Beverly, P.C., at 4500 Fort Jackson Blvd., to pay for the 2022 Annual Audit.

The HOA wanted to charge me $265 to produce a copy of the Audit, even though on August 9th I only requested to examine it. This morning I attempted to pay the fair share of the homeowner. The fair share is $0.11 ($265.00 divided by 2480 homeowners). The receptionist was polite and professional, as she refused to accept payment in cash.

I shall add that she did not even look carefully at the 11 pennies to see whether they were genuine or counterfeit. I'm pretty sure that U.S. coins are legal tender, but I did not wish to make a Federal case out of it. She just works there.

There is no valid reason for the HOA to charge the full cost, even it is correctly calculated, to the first homeowner to request it. Or even to the first two homeowners, since a second homeowner also requested the Audit.

Two copies would be $530.

South Carolina state law allows a corporation to charge for a copy of a report.

SECTION 33-31-1603. Scope of inspection rights.

(a) A member's agent or attorney has the same inspection and copying rights as the member the agent or attorney represents.

(b) The right to copy records under Section 33-31-1602 includes, if reasonable, the right to receive copies made by photographic, xerographic, or other means.

(c) The corporation may impose a reasonable charge, covering the costs of labor and material, for copies of any documents provided to the member. The charge may not exceed the estimated cost of production or reproduction of the records.

Do you believe $265.00 s a fair charge? Who in the office will redact it and make a copy? One of the $17-19/hour employees? Or the $30/hour employee? How could the HOA possibly think that $125/hour is a reasonable charge for redacting information on a few pages?

All the Annual Audits for 2001-2021 are posted on the HOA's website for free reading, with no information redacted. What is different about the 2022 Annual Audit?

Earlier in the week, the HOA's attorney gave me an ultimatum to authorize production of the report in exchange for payment of the charge by today at 5:00PM or withdraw my request. 

Wouldn't the smart thing for Justin Martin, President of the HOA, be to redact any sensitive and personal information about homeowners at HOA expense and post the 2022 Annual Audit on the HOA's website with the previous reports?

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