Living In Sc Hoa - Non-annexed Section

Hello! Looking for a bit of advice (I understand it may require an attorney deep dive) so I understand what I may be looking at moving forward.

I built a house in a gated subdivision back in 2016 in South Carolina. A short time later, the developer released the neighborhood to the HOA and it was determined that several phases of the neighborhood were not annexed as they were released. I live in one of those phases.

In 2018, there was a big push by the HOA to get those phases annexed. I did sign a consent to annex which was recorded. I guess the HOA didn't plan for how much work/money it would require to get all the signatures and the project was dropped. They never received the amount of signatures required to annex.

Here we are today. This morning, I'm just reviewing the consistent complaining on the neighborhood FB page. You know, the typical petty fines and how much the HOA sucks. Now, I'm typically of the mindset "you should've read the covenants instead of complaining on FB". However, this morning, I had the epiphany about the annexation debacle. If these folks live in those areas which aren't annexed (I don't know) how are they able to be fined?

Coming back to me and my phase, my neighbor is a habitual offender - usually related to having too many cars on the street/in the yard and they're consistently fined. One side of me wants it to stop, but the other side of me is saying if it's not legal to fine, then it shouldn't be happening.

I am compliant for the most part. I pay the dues and try to have a nice, forward facing yard. Having that said, what happens if I break the rules knowing I'm in a non-annexed part of the neighborhood?

• Am I held to the standard of being part of the HOA because I've paid dues and followed the rules up to this point?

-Am I held to the standard of being part of the HOA because I consented to annexation 7 years ago even though it didn't happen?

Or.....

• I am not held to the standard of the HOA because my phase was not annexed.

Thanks in advance for the opinions/advice!