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by WILL FOLKS
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Residents of a Midlands, South Carolina suburban neighborhood have successfully pushed back (for now) against what an overwhelming majority of homeowners say is a deceptively marketed development – one they insist would erode their property values and lower their quality of life. But this grassroots push to safeguard their community could spawn legal action from developers – setting up a battle which could determine the outcome of similar property fights all across the state.
As South Carolina’s urban areas struggle with an influx of new residents – and as more Americans are priced out of the dream of homeownership – suburbs are witnessing the explosive growth of rental housing developments.
The placement of these developments has elicited considerable controversy – especially when they are dropped adjacent to existing communities (or in this case, dropped in an undeveloped tract of land in the middle of an existing community). The controversy is only exacerbated when members of the community insist the true nature of these projects was not disclosed to them.
Precisely such a drama is playing out at Chesnut Hill Plantation in northwest Columbia, S.C., where residents contend a corporate developer is attempting to put a 127-unit apartment complex in the middle of their community of nearly 700 homes. Residents say the development was originally pitched to the community as owner-occupied townhomes.
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According to sources familiar with the situation, residents of the neighborhood – which was originally developed in the 1990s – were already upset over the addition of the new townhouses, but became positively livid when they realized the new development would be comprised almost exclusively of rental properties.
This month, more than 500 homeowners in the neighborhood voted to amend Chestnut Hill’s declaration of covenants, conditions, restrictions and easements (a.k.a. its “declaration”) to restrict the leasing of lots. Specifically, property owners are now prohibited from leasing property unless they have “occupied the residence for at least one year prior to the start of the lease.”
Chestnut Hill residents amended their bylaws in accordance with covenants requiring more than 60% of homeowners to sign off on any changes. This threshold was attained despite the proliferation of anonymous flyers warning residents of “serious negative impacts” associated with approving the amendment.
The anonymous flyers referred to the proposed amendment governing leases as a “power grab” that would give the HOA “more control, more money and more power over how we use our own property.”
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“Say no to unfair restrictions,” it warned. “Protect your rights.”
Residents were not fooled by the anonymous flyers.
“They saw right through them,” a source familiar with the recent vote told FITSNews. “They knew who (the flyers) came from.”
Following the neighborhood’s overwhelming approval of the updated declaration, the document (.pdf) was filed with Richland County on Monday (August 25, 2025). According to the Chestnut Hill Homeowners Association, “the new provisions… are in effect.”
So… is that the end of the story?
Absolutely not… in fact, it appears as though the drama is just beginning.
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In a letter sent to the HOA last Monday (August 18, 2025), Tier Homes and its partners – who identified themselves as the homebuilders of the townhouses – made it abundantly clear they “relied heavily” on the neighborhood’s previous declarations, which allowed “flexibility in property use, including leasing, without limitation.”
Not only that, the companies promised to challenge the neighborhood’s amendment of those declarations – vowing to “vigorously protect its substantial interests.”
According to the letter (.pdf), the “absence of rental restrictions” in the community for “over three decades” led it to embark upon the development.
“Any amendment attempting to impose new rental restrictions would contradict this original intent and likely be deemed unreasonable and unenforceable,” the letter added, noting such attempts would “directly impair Tier’s vested rights and cause irreparable economic harm.”
“Tier has already commenced construction on these homes and executed a binding contract to sell most of the homes as rental properties,” the letter added.
Neighborhood leaders have acknowledged litigation between developers and the HOA is “inevitable,” but argued the future of their community was on the line.
“If other neighborhoods aren’t careful, it’s going to happen to them,” a source familiar with the situation told us. “We’re scared for our home values.”
FITSNews is planning additional coverage of this unfolding situation in the weeks to come, hoping to speak with HOA representatives, homeowners and representatives of the developer. Stay tuned for more from our media outlet… and if you are aware of similar situations unfolding elsewhere in the Palmetto State, please let us know.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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7 comments
Laurens just approved one of these on the old Watts Mill site. We will have to watch and see how it develops.
This company came to the board and said they were planning on building the luxury townhomes geared at seniors. They then proceeded to build tiny townhomes with all of the bedrooms on the second floor. I don’t know what senior would be interested in that? They have also done a lot of damage to the houses and yards alongside of them from all of the mud runoff, and they completely killed all of the fish and one of our neighborhood ponds. Another neighborhood pond is so full of silt and a lot of the fish have died off there as well. The neighborhood has had to employ a new pond management company to try to bring life back to our fishing holes. This is just some of the frustration that neighbors have with this. We knew some of our walking trails maybe be torn down as that property was for sale, but it was definitely not presented as being mass rental property. This makes me really sad. I am on my second house in this community as are a lot of people and I love it here. The original developer put in houses of all price points with the original plan as people getting a starter home here and then expanding to a larger home as their family and budget expanded. It would’ve been fantastic to have some homes to progress to after that to retire to and bring everything full circle. He would be rolling in his grave if he saw these things.
I’m a Realtor who lives in CHP. We were alerted to their intentions when the developers Realtor began marketing them as having No Rental Restrictions. That’s not typically something we would promote , unless our target audience is investors.
It’s been clear from the very beginning, that we were misled when told they would build luxury townhomes for senior residents.
So presumably these are rentals that will cost in the multiple thousands a month to rent, or at least probably $2000 and up at a minimum. Since these homes are within the HOA the owner (landlord) would need to pay dues and abide by the CCRs. Why is this such an issue? If they bring in some folks that don’t keep up the standards then use the CCRs to fine the owner (landlord).
Entering in to protracted legal proceedings that is going to cost the HOA 10’s of thousands is not going to do anybody any good.
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Criminal Charges can easily be brought against these developers and their construction buddies.
They are involved with using ILLEGAL ALIENS labor on their to projects. They can face decades in prison for it