(A) Except as otherwise provided herein, the owner or agent of the owner, of any land to be subdivided within the municipality or county who transfers or sells the land by reference to or exhibition of or by other use of a plat of subdivision of the land before the plat has been approved by the Planning Commission and recorded in the office of the Clerk of Court in and for the county, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished in the discretion of the court; and the description by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transfer shall not exempt the transaction from these penalties. The municipality or county may enjoin the transfer or sale or agreement by appropriate action.
(B) The provision of this chapter shall not apply within the corporate limits of any municipality in the County of Newberry, but any such municipality may elect to come under these provisions, and Newberry County shall administer these regulations in the municipality at the request of, and with the permission of, the municipality.
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision in this chapter, Newberry County recognizes that the development of subdivisions requires a substantial investment of money by a developer, and that it is necessary to advertise and promote a development from the very earliest planning stages; therefore, it is the intent of these regulations that a developer may take lot reservations, for a price not to exceed 15% of the proposed final lot price, provided that no actual ownership interest in a separate lot may be conveyed by deed, or other legal instrument conveying a possessory interest, to a proposed buyer until the final plat has been approved as provided in these regulations. All the agreements, or other agreements for the transfer of a future possessory interest, shall contain a provision that all the moneys paid to the developer, or to his or her agents, shall be held in a separate escrow account in a banking institution in the State of South Carolina, and that the funds shall be refunded at the purchaser's option if the final plat is not approved within a period not to exceed 2 years from the date of the instrument. Upon demand by Newberry County, its administrative official, or its Planning Commission, the developer, or its agents, shall supply a certified statement of the amounts held in the escrow account, or accounts, and the names and addresses of the persons who paid the funds, or who otherwise have a beneficial interest therein.
(Ord. 105, passed 12-29-1988)