54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

RELATING TO MANUFACTURED HOUSING; CHANGING THE DEFINITION OF "DIRECTOR" IN THE MANUFACTURED HOUSING ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1. Section 60-14-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 79, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"60-14-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Manufactured Housing Act:

A. "broker" means any person who, for a fee, commission or valuable consideration, lists, sells, offers for sale, exchanges, offers to exchange, rents or leases or offers to rent or lease pre-owned manufactured homes for another person or who negotiates, offers to negotiate, locates or brings together a buyer and a seller or offers to locate or bring together a buyer and a seller in conjunction with the sale, exchange, rental or lease of a pre-owned manufactured home. A broker may or may not be an agent of any party involved in the transaction. No person shall be considered a broker unless engaged in brokerage activities related to the sale, exchange or lease-purchase of two or more pre-owned manufactured homes to consumers in any consecutive twelve-month period;

B. "certificate of qualification" means a certificate issued by the division to a qualifying party;

C. "committee" means the manufactured housing committee;

D. "consumer" means any person who seeks or acquires by purchase, exchange or lease-purchase a manufactured home;

E. "dealer" means any person engaged in the business of buying for resale, selling or exchanging manufactured homes or offering manufactured homes for sale, exchange or lease-purchase to consumers. No person shall be considered a dealer unless engaged in the sale, exchange or lease-purchase of two or more manufactured homes to consumers in any consecutive twelve-month period. A dealer may also engage in any brokerage activities included under the definition of broker in this section; provided that "dealer" shall not include:

(1) receivers, trustees, administrators, executors, guardians or other persons appointed by or acting under judgment, decree or order of any court;

(2) public officers while performing their duties as such officers; and

(3) finance companies, banks and other lending institutions covering sales of repossessed manufactured houses;

F. "director" means the director of the [manufactured housing] division [and the construction industries division of the regulation and licensing department];

G. "division" means the manufactured housing division of the regulation and licensing department;

H. "inspection agency" means any firm, partnership, corporation, association or any combination thereof approved in accordance with regulations adopted by the division as having the personnel and equipment available to adequately inspect for the proper construction of manufactured homes or house trailers not used exclusively for recreational purposes;

I. "inspector" means a person appointed by the division as being qualified to adequately inspect the construction, electrical installations and mechanical installations of manufactured homes and their repair and modification, as well as the installation, tie-downs, blocking, skirting and water, gas and sewer connections of any manufactured homes in New Mexico;

J. "installer" means any person who installs manufactured homes for remuneration;

K. "installation" means, but is not limited to, preparation by an installer of a manufactured home site, construction of tie-down facilities and connection to on-site utility terminals;

L. "manufacturer" means any resident or nonresident person who manufactures or assembles manufactured homes or any component of manufactured homes;

M. "manufactured home" means a movable or portable housing structure over thirty-two feet in length or over eight feet in width constructed to be towed on its own chassis and designed to be installed with or without a permanent foundation for human occupancy as a residence and that may include one or more components that can be retracted for towing purposes and subsequently expanded for additional capacity or may be two or more units separately towable but designed to be joined into one integral unit, as well as a single unit. "Manufactured home" does not include recreational vehicles or modular or premanufactured homes, built to Uniform Building Code standards, designed to be permanently affixed to real property. "Manufactured home" includes any movable or portable housing structure over twelve feet in width and forty feet in length that is used for nonresidential purposes;

N. "permit" means a certificate issued by the division to the dealer or installer of a manufactured home indicating that the manufactured home meets the minimum requirements for occupancy provided for by codes or regulations of the division;

O. "person" includes an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity or any combination thereof;

P. "qualifying party" means any individual who submits to the examination for a license, other than a broker's or salesperson's license, to be issued under the Manufactured Housing Act to a licensee, other than an individual, and who after passing such an examination is responsible for the licensee's compliance with the requirements of that act and with the rules, regulations, codes and standards adopted and promulgated in accordance with the provisions of the Manufactured Housing Act;

Q. "repairman" means any person who, for remuneration or consideration, modifies, alters or repairs the structural, mechanical or electrical systems of a manufactured home; and

R. "salesperson" means any person who for any form of compensation sells or lease-purchases or offers to sell or lease-purchase manufactured homes to consumers as an employee or agent of a dealer."

SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2019.