AB 549

This bill makes a number of changes to the regulation of manufactured home sales by the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Under current law, an application for a certificate of title for a manufactured home must include certain information, including the name and address of the owner and a description of the manufactured home. Under the bill, the application must also include the county in which the manufactured home is situated or intended to be situated. In addition, the bill allows an application, and the accompanying fee, to be submitted to DSPS in an automated format prescribed by DSPS. Under current law, an application for a certificate of title must be delivered directly or mailed to DSPS.

Current law requires DSPS to maintain a record of all applications and all certificates of title issued by DSPS. Under current law, the applications and certificates must be indexed according to title number; alphabetically, according to the name of the owner; and in any other manner determined by DSPS. The bill requires DSPS to make the records publicly available and to additionally index the records by the county in which the manufactured home is situated or intended to be situated. In addition, the bill requires DSPS to maintain and make available to the public a record of each manufactured home community in the state. Each such record must include the name of the manufactured home community, the name and contact information of the owner of the manufactured home community, and the physical address of the manufactured home community.

Under current law, a certificate of title for a manufactured home issued by DSPS must contain the name and address of the owner; the names of any secured parties in the order of priority; the title number assigned to the manufactured home; a description of the manufactured home, including make, model, and identification number; and any other pertinent data, as determined by DSPS. Under the bill, the certificate of title must also contain the address where the manufactured home is situated or intended to be situated. In addition, the description of the manufactured home must include the year of manufacture.

Under current law, no person may engage in the business of selling

manufactured homes in this state without first obtaining a license from DSPS. Under the bill, this prohibition is expanded to marketing or listing manufactured homes in this state without first obtaining a license from DSPS.

Finally, the bill requires a licensed seller of a manufactured home to use a written purchase contract for each sale of a manufactured home and provide an exact copy of the purchase contract to the purchaser at the time the purchaser signs the offer to purchase the manufactured home. An exact copy must be provided again after the seller accepts the offer if the offer is accepted at a different time than offered by the purchaser. The bill also provides that, unless otherwise specified in the purchase contract, a purchaser’s offer to purchase a manufactured home is automatically terminated if the seller fails to accept or reject the offer by the close of the business day after the purchaser submits the offer. Under the bill, if a purchaser provides a seller with notice that the purchaser is canceling a purchase contract for a manufactured home, the seller must, no later than the close of the business day after the seller receives the notice, return any title for a trade-in unit provided by the purchaser.