North Carolina · Chapter 47C
North Carolina Condominium Act — Plain-English Summary
Every section of this body of law translated into plain English for North Carolina board members and homeowners.
General Provisions
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§47C-1-101
Names this chapter the North Carolina Condominium Act. Condos created after October 1, 1986 live here — not under Chapter 47A (older condos) or Chapter 47F (…
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§47C-1-102
This Chapter applies to every North Carolina condominium created after October 1, 1986. A listed set of sections — including meetings (§3-108), liens (§3-116…
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§47C-1-103
Defines declaration, unit, common elements, limited common elements, association, declarant, executive board, allocated interests, and the other words this C…
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§47C-1-104
Except where a specific section says otherwise, this Chapter may not be varied by the declaration, the bylaws, or agreement. A declarant may not use a power …
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§47C-1-105
Each unit is a separate parcel for title and property-tax purposes. Common elements are not taxed separately from the units. This section also applies to pre…
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§47C-1-106
A local ordinance or building code may not prohibit the condominium form of ownership or impose a requirement on a condominium that it would not impose on a …
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§47C-1-107
If a unit or common element is taken by eminent domain, allocated interests and common-expense liabilities are reallocated and the award is distributed as th…
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§47C-1-108
The principles of law and equity, including the North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 55A), supplement this Chapter unless they conflict with it.…
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§47C-1-109
If this Chapter conflicts with the North Carolina Time Share Act, this Chapter controls for a condominium that is also a time share, except as this section p…
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§47C-1-110
Good-faith substantial compliance with this Chapter is enough to create a condominium with marketable title. Nonmaterial errors or omissions are not actionable.
Creation, Alteration, and Termination of Condominiums
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§47C-2-101
A condominium is created by recording a declaration (executed in the same manner as a deed) in every county where any portion of it sits. Plats and plans req…
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§47C-2-102
Default unit boundaries: unfinished interior surfaces of perimeter walls, floors, and ceilings. All lath, furring, wallboard, plasterboard, plaster, paneling…
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§47C-2-103
The declaration and bylaws are construed together. If they conflict, the declaration controls. Provisions are severable. Title to a unit and common elements …
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§47C-2-104
A deed, lease, or mortgage may describe a unit by its identifying number. That description automatically includes the owner's allocated interests even if the…
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§47C-2-105
Every declaration must include the name of the condominium, the county, a legally sufficient description, unit identifying numbers and boundaries, allocated …
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§47C-2-106
Extra rules when units sit on leased land: the lease must be recorded, the declaration must disclose the lease particulars this section lists, and specified …
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§47C-2-107
The declaration allocates to each unit an undivided interest in the common elements, a share of common-expense liability, and votes in the association. The f…
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§47C-2-108
The declaration specifies which common elements are limited (assigned to fewer than all units). Reallocation between units follows the amendment path this se…
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§47C-2-109
Plats and plans must meet this section's contents (boundaries, unit designations, limited common elements) and be certified by a registered land surveyor, ar…
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§47C-2-110
To exercise a reserved development right (add land, add units, withdraw land), the declarant records an amendment to the declaration and new plats and plans …
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§47C-2-111
Subject to the declaration and other law, a unit owner may alter the unit so long as the work does not impair structural integrity or mechanical systems or l…
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§47C-2-112
Adjoining unit owners may relocate the boundaries between their units if the declaration allows it, by applying to the association and recording an amendment…
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§47C-2-113
If the declaration permits, a unit may be subdivided into two or more units. The owner applies to the association; an amendment reallocates interests and rec…
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§47C-2-114
The physical boundaries of a unit as constructed or reconstructed in substantial accordance with the plats and plans are its boundaries, even if they differ …
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§47C-2-115
A declarant may maintain sales offices, management offices, and models in the condominium only if the declaration so provides, and only in the units or commo…
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§47C-2-116
The declarant has an easement through the common elements as reasonably necessary to discharge the declarant's obligations or exercise special declarant rights.
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§47C-2-117
Except for the listed declarant, association, or owner-executed amendments, the declaration may be amended only by owners of units to which at least 67 perce…
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§47C-2-117.1
A court may reform the declaration to correct an error, omission, or inconsistency that prevents the condominium from operating as this Chapter intends, on t…
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§47C-2-118
A condominium may be terminated only by agreement of owners of units to which at least 80 percent of the votes are allocated (or any larger percentage the de…
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§47C-2-120
If the declaration provides, a master association may exercise the powers this Chapter gives a unit owners' association. Owners of a condominium whose powers…
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§47C-2-121
Two or more condominiums may merge or consolidate by agreement of owners as this section provides. The resulting association steps into the merged regimes. A…
Management of the Condominium
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§47C-3-101
A unit owners' association must be organized no later than the date the first unit is conveyed. Membership consists exclusively of all unit owners. The assoc…
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§47C-3-102
Unless the declaration says otherwise, the association may adopt budgets (including reserves), collect assessments, hire managers, sue, and regulate the comm…
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§47C-3-103
Officers and board members stand in a fiduciary relationship to the association and the owners, and they must meet the Chapter 55A director and officer stand…
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§47C-3-104
Special declarant rights transfer only by an instrument recorded as this section requires. A successor declarant's liabilities and remaining development righ…
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§47C-3-105
If entered into before the board elected by the unit owners takes office, any management contract, employment contract, or lease of recreational or parking a…
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§47C-3-106
The bylaws must provide for the number, qualifications, powers, and terms of the executive board, election of officers, and the other matters this section li…
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§47C-3-107
The association maintains, repairs, and replaces the common elements and assesses the owners for the cost. Each owner maintains the unit and must give access…
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§47C-3-107.1
Unless the declaration sets a specific procedure, a hearing before the executive board or an independent owner panel is required before a fine or a suspensio…
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§47C-3-108
The association meets at least once a year. Special meetings may be called by the president, a majority of the executive board, or owners with 20 percent of …
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§47C-3-109
Unless the bylaws provide otherwise, an owners' meeting has a quorum if persons entitled to cast 20 percent of the votes that may be cast for the executive b…
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§47C-3-110
Multiple owners of a unit vote by majority-in-interest unless the instruments say otherwise; one owner may cast the votes if no co-owner protests. A proxy mu…
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§47C-3-111
An action in tort or contract arising out of an act or omission of the association must be brought against the association, not against individual unit owner…
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§47C-3-112
Portions of the common elements may be conveyed or subjected to a security interest by the association if persons entitled to cast at least 80 percent of the…
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§47C-3-113
Beginning no later than the first conveyance to someone other than the declarant, the association must maintain, to the extent reasonably available, property…
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§47C-3-114
Unless the declaration provides otherwise, surplus funds remaining after common expenses and any prepayment of reserves must be paid to the unit owners in pr…
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§47C-3-115
Until the association levies an assessment, the declarant pays all common expenses. After that, assessments must be made at least annually, in the declaratio…
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§47C-3-116
An assessment unpaid 30 days or longer becomes a lien when a claim of lien is filed with the clerk of superior court. At least 15 days before filing, the ass…
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§47C-3-116.1
Validates certain earlier nonjudicial association-lien foreclosure proceedings and sales that met the conditions this section lists, so a past sale is not un…
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§47C-3-117
A judgment for money against the association, if recorded, is not a lien on the common elements but is a lien against all units for their share. Mechanics' l…
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§47C-3-118
Financial and other records, including meeting records, must be reasonably available to any unit owner and the owner's agents as the bylaws and Chapter 55A r…
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§47C-3-119
If the association is designated as trustee of insurance proceeds, condemnation awards, or other receipts, it holds them for the unit owners and lienholders …
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§47C-3-121
A restriction may not be read to ban a U.S. or North Carolina flag of up to four by six feet displayed patriotically on property the owner owns exclusively, …
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§47C-3-122
A covenant may not be read to require irrigation during a U.S. Drought Monitor severe/extreme/exceptional drought when the Governor, a state agency, or local…
Protection of Purchasers
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§47C-4-101
Article 4 (purchaser protection) applies to all units subject to this Chapter except the dispositions this section exempts. A purchaser may not waive the pro…
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§47C-4-102
The declarant must prepare a public offering statement and provide it before the purchaser signs. A person who gives a purchaser a public offering statement …
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§47C-4-103
The public offering statement must disclose the declarant, a general description of the condominium, copies or a narrative of the declaration and bylaws, the…
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§47C-4-104
If the declarant reserved development rights, the public offering statement must also disclose the maximum number of units, the timetable, and the other deve…
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§47C-4-105
A condominium that is also a time share must add the time-share disclosures this section requires to the public offering statement.
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§47C-4-106
For a conversion of an occupied building, the public offering statement must disclose the building's condition, the extent of any renovation, and the other c…
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§47C-4-107
If a condominium interest is a security, the public offering statement must include the additional disclosures this section requires, or an applicable securi…
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§47C-4-108
No conveyance under a purchase contract may occur until seven calendar days after the contract is signed. The purchaser has an absolute right to cancel durin…
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§47C-4-109
Except where a public offering statement is required, a selling unit owner must give a prospective purchaser, before conveyance, a statement of the monthly c…
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§47C-4-110
Any deposit made in connection with the purchase or reservation of a unit from a person required to deliver a public offering statement must be placed in esc…
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§47C-4-111
Before conveying a unit, the seller must have the unit released from all liens the purchaser does not expressly agree to take subject to, or furnish a bond o…
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§47C-4-113
Express warranties of quality made by a seller of a unit are created as this section provides (affirmations of fact, descriptions, models, and promises that …
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§47C-4-114
A declarant impliedly warrants that a unit and the common elements are suitable for the ordinary uses of real estate of that type and that improvements are f…
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§47C-4-115
Implied warranties may be excluded or modified only by a written instrument signed by the purchaser that meets this section's conspicuousness and content rul…
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§47C-4-116
A judicial proceeding for breach of a warranty must be commenced within the times this section sets (generally six years after the cause accrues, with a two-…
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§47C-4-117
If a declarant or any other person subject to this Chapter violates it, any person or class of persons adversely affected has a claim for appropriate relief.…
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§47C-4-118
If any improvement in the condominium is not yet built, promotional material that shows it must clearly state that it is proposed and is not yet constructed,…
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§47C-4-119
The declarant must complete all improvements depicted on any site plan or other graphic representation if that representation was made in a promotional mater…
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§47C-4-120
A declarant may not convey a unit until it is substantially completed as evidenced by a recorded certificate of substantial completion of a registered archit…
Frequently asked about Chapter 47C
- What is North Carolina Chapter 47C?
- North Carolina Chapter 47C — the North Carolina Condominium Act — is the body of law that governs how every North Carolina condo is structured, operated, and held accountable. It covers governance, voting, records, assessments, fining, and most of the day-to-day legal questions a board will face.
- How many sections are in Chapter 47C?
- Chapter 47C contains 73 sections in this reference. Each is summarized in plain English on its own page, with links to the official text at ncleg.gov.
- Is the summary on this site legal advice?
- No. These pages are plain-English summaries prepared by SoShiny for board members and managers. For binding legal advice or interpretation of how a section applies to your specific situation, consult a North Carolina-licensed attorney.
- How often does North Carolina Chapter 47C change?
- The North Carolina General Assembly can amend any chapter in any session. We update these summaries when we re-import the official text — see the 'Last updated' date on each section page.
- Does SoShiny enforce Chapter 47C for me?
- No software 'enforces' a statute — but SoShiny is built around it. Voting, meeting minutes, records access, fining workflow, and audit trails are designed to meet this body of law's requirements out of the box, so the board can demonstrate good-faith compliance if challenged.
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