Appraiser Asks SC Court to Undo State Board Sanctions

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina residential appraiser disciplined by the state’s Real Estate Appraisers Board has asked the Administrative Law Court to reconsider a ruling that upheld those sanctions, arguing the case raises questions about how licensing boards police the professions they regulate.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit legal group based in Washington that challenges the power of government agencies, filed the request Monday on the appraiser’s behalf in a case against the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The court affirmed the board’s final order last month.

The discipline traces to an appraisal done in 2021. According to the filing, the board did not hold a hearing on the negligence-based charges until November 2025, more than four years later, and never explained the delay. The group argues the appraiser was entitled to a jury on charges that carried career-damaging penalties and steep civil fines, and that the same board that reviewed the complaint, approved the prosecution and issued the formal charges then sat as judge.

The filing lists other objections. The investigator who handled the case and produced the original findings was not available to be cross-examined, and a replacement who had not worked the case testified instead, with her conclusions first shared at the hearing. The group also says the board refused requests for records and more time to prepare, applied appraisal standards that were not in force in 2021, and relied in part on a negligence theory raised for the first time late in the hearing. It wants the court to reverse the order and wipe out the sanctions.

The appraisers board licenses anyone who values real estate in South Carolina, including appraisers licensed in other states who take a job here. Anyone may file a written complaint against an appraiser over possible violations of state law or federal standards, but the board does not investigate complaints that are only disagreements over a property’s value.

Filed under: Lexington SC Business News