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House Bill 1460 |
House Author: Haggerty |
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Effective: 1-1-08 |
Senate Sponsor: Harris |
House Bill 1460 amends provisions of law relating to the licensing, acquisition, regulation, and taxation of manufactured housing. The bill amends the Occupations Code to modify the requirements for various licenses, including increasing the amount of bond required for an installer's or rebuilder's license and requiring a $50,000 bond for each branch location of a retailer licensee. The bill sets out requirements for the inspection of a licensee's records by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA); entitles a person whose new or renewal license has been revoked, suspended, or denied to a hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings, rather than the director of TDHCA; and establishes criteria for determining administrative and criminal penalties.
House Bill 1460 separately defines new and used manufactured homes, holds the installer and retailer of a new manufactured home jointly responsible for the warranty of installation, and stipulates that a consumer purchasing a used manufactured home from a retailer take the home free and clear of any liens created by the seller. The bill allows a person who acquires a home from or through a licensee by sale, exchange, or lease-purchase to waive his or her right to rescind the contract for that acquisition in an emergency; revises the requirements for a retailer's or lender's disclosure of certain financial information to the buyer and for an application for and issuance of a statement of ownership and location; and establishes requirements for the sale and occupancy of a trade-in home.
House Bill 1460 transfers from TDHCA's director to the Manufactured Housing Board the authority to adopt rules, forms, standards, and other requirements relating to manufactured homes and changes the procedures for adopting rules and establishing fees. The bill allows the owner of an existing home to replace the home on the same lot if certain conditions are met and stipulates that in the event of a fire or natural disaster such a replacement cannot be restricted by municipal ordinances or charters. The bill prohibits an uninstalled home from being occupied for any purpose, prohibits the installation of a home on certain problem-prone sites without the owner's written acceptance of risk, and changes the requirements for declaring a home abandoned and for perfecting a lien on a home in inventory. It provides specific procedures for an owner's election to treat a manufactured home as either personal property or real property, revises the restrictions on purchasing or selling a salvage home, and allows a local governmental authority to impose the same inspection and other requirements on such a home within its jurisdiction as it would on a non-manufactured home. The bill exempts the manufactured homeowners' recovery trust fund from liability for certain damages, authorizes the board to limit the costs that may be paid from the fund, and revises the procedures for a consumer's recovery of damages from the fund and for resolving informal disputes between a consumer and a licensee.
In addition, House Bill 1460 amends the Government Code to require TDHCA's housing finance division to make its policies and procedures for investigating and resolving complaints available on its website and amends provisions of the Property Code relating to a lease agreement for a manufactured home. The bill amends provisions of the Tax Code relating to applying for a homestead exemption, establishing an escrow account, and recording a personal property tax lien on a manufactured home.