Direct Mail in South Carolina illegal? Non-solicitation state?
I would like to send a direct mail marketing campaign into South Carolina to try to purchase properties. When I try to download the data I get a notification from RealQuestPro:
"South Carolina law prohibits the use of personal information obtained from government agencies for commercial solicitation. See S.C. Code Ann. § 30-2-50(A):
A person or private entity shall not knowingly obtain or use personal information obtained from a state agency, a local government, or other political subdivision of the State for commercial solicitation directed to any person in this State. “Personal information” includes, but is not limited to, name, home address, and home telephone number. By accessing any records, reports, property information, or any other informational products and services from CoreLogic for the state of South Carolina (“South Carolina Information”), you hereby certify to CoreLogic that you do not intend to, and will not, use such South Carolina Information for the purpose of commercial solicitation."
Then when I searched for that legal code I found at https://law.justia.com/codes/s... for South Carolina"
"(A) A person or private entity shall not knowingly obtain or use any personal information obtained from a state agency for commercial solicitation directed to any person in this State.
(B) Each state agency shall provide a notice to all requestors of records pursuant to this chapter and to all persons who obtain records pursuant to this chapter that obtaining or using public records for commercial solicitation directed to any person in this State is prohibited.
(C) All state agencies shall take reasonable measures to ensure that no person or private entity obtains or distributes personal information obtained from a public record for commercial solicitation.
(D) A person knowingly violating the provisions of subsection (A) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars or imprisoned for a term not to exceed one year, or both.
(E) This chapter does not apply to a local governmental entity of a subdivision of this state or local government."
I'm not a lawyer but I have to think that getting data from RealQuestPro (or any other data aggregator) who almost certainly gets their data from the assessors office, which is a government agency, has to fit that bill.
Bottom line (for me): Unless someone has found a lawyer who has found some precedent of a court case with a real estate investor sending direct mail and that being ok, I see no wiggle room in the SC law. Which is a bummer cause I'd love to mail there haha.
Does anyone know if you can use direct mail marketing in South Carolina to try to acquire properties? Besides folks who have been doing it without getting caught haha. Does anyone know if it's allowed?