SETTLEMENT COSTS FOR FHA AND VA EXCERPT FROM EMERGENCY HOME FINANCE ACT OF 1970 TITLE VII-MISCELLANEOUS SETTLEMENT COSTS IN THE FINANCING OF FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION AND VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION ASSISTED HOUSING SEC. 701. (a) With respect to housing built, rehabilitated, or sold with assistance provided under the National Housing Act or under chapter 37 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs are respectively authorized and directed to prescribe standards governing the amounts of settlement costs allowable in connection with the financing of such housing in any such area. Such standards shall (1) be established after consultation between the Secretary and the Administrator; (2) be consistent in any area for housing assisted under the National Housing Act and housing assisted under chapter 37 of title 38, United States Code; and (3) be based on the Secretary's and the Administrator's estimates of the reasonable charge for necessary services involved in settlements for particular classes of mortgages and loans. (b) The Secretary and the Administrator shall undertake a joint study and make recommendations to the Congress not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act with respect to legislative and administrative actions which should be taken to reduce mortgage settlement costs and to standardize these costs for all geographic areas. [12 U.S.C. 1710 note] 1The date of enactment was July 24, 1970. MANUFACTURED HOME STANDARDS EXCERPT FROM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1974 [Public Law 93-383; 88 Stat. 700; 42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.] TITLE VI-MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS SHORT TITLE SEC. 601. This title may be cited as the "National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974". [42 U.S.C. 5401 note] STATEMENT OF PURPOSE SEC. 602. The Congress declares that the purposes of this title are to reduce the number of personal injuries and deaths and the amount of insurance costs and property damage resulting from manufactured home accidents and to improve the quality and durability of manufactured homes. Therefore, the Congress determines that it is necessary to establish Federal construction and safety standards for manufactured homes and to authorize manufactured home safety research and development. [42 U.S.C. 5401] DEFINITIONS SEC. 603. As used in this title, the term (1) "manufactured home construction" means all activities relating to the assembly and manufacture of a manufactured home including but not limited to those relating to durability, quality, and safety; (2) "dealer" means any person engaged in the sale, leasing, or distribution of new manufactured homes primarily to persons who in good faith purchase or lease a manufactured home for purposes other than resale; (3) "defect" includes any defect in the performance, construction, components, or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended; (4) "distributor" means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of manufactured homes for resale; (5) "manufacturer" means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in importing manufactured homes for resale; (6) "manufactured home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; except that such terms shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary and complies with the standards established under this title; (7) "Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard" means a reasonable standard for the construction, design, and performance of a manufactured home which meets the needs of the public including the need for quality, durability, and safety; (8) "manufactured home safety" means the performance of a manufactured home in such a manner that the public is protected against any unreasonable risk of the occurrence of accidents due to the design or construction of such manufactured home, or any unreasonable risk of death or injury to the user or to the public if such accidents do occur; (9) "imminent safety hazard" means an imminent and unreasonable risk of death or severe personal injury; (10) "purchaser" means the first person purchasing a manufactured home in good faith for purposes other than resale; (11) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; (12) "State" includes each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virigin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa; and (13) "United States district courts" means the Federal district courts of the United States and the United States courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa. [42 U.S.C. 5402] FEDERAL MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY SEC. 604. (a) The Secretary, after consultation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, shall establish by order appropriate Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards. Each such Federal manufactured home standard shall be reasonable and shall meet the highest standards of protection, taking into account existing State and local laws relating to manufactured home safety and construction. 1 1 Section 104(c) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-486, approved October 24, 1992, provides as follows: "(c) EXCEPTION TO FEDERAL PREEMPTION.-If the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has not issued, within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, final regulations pursuant to section 604 of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5403) that establish thermal insulation and energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing that take effect before January 1, 1995, then States may establish thermal insulation and energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing if such standards are at least as stringent as thermal performance standards for manufactured housing contained in the Second Public Review Draft of BSR/ASHRAE 90.2P entitled 'Energy Efficient Design of Low-Rise Residential Buildings' and all public reviews of Independent Substantive Continued (b) All orders issued under this section shall be issued after notice and an opportunity for interested persons to participate are provided in accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code. (c) Each order establishing a Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard shall specify the date such standard is to take effect, which shall not be sooner than one hundred and eighty days or later than one year after the date such order is issued, unless the Secretary finds, for good cause shown, that an earlier or later effective date is in the public interest, and publishes his reasons for such finding. (d) Whenever a Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard established under this title is in effect, no State or political subdivision of a State shall have any authority either to establish, or to continue in effect, with respect to any manufactured home covered, any standard regarding construction or safety applicable to the same aspect of performance of such manufactured home which is not identical to the Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard. (e) The Secretary may by order amend or revoke any Federal manufactured home construction or safety standard established under this section. Such order shall specify the date on which such amendment or revocation is to take effect, which shall not be sooner than one hundred and eighty days or later than one year from the date the order is issued, unless the Secretary finds, for good cause shown, that an earlier or later date is in the public interest, and publishes his reasons for such findings. (f) In establishing standards under this section, the Secretary shall (1) consider relevant available manufactured home construction and safety data, including the results of the research, development, testing, and evaluation activities conducted pursuant to this title, and those activities conducted by private organizations and other governmental agencies to determine how to best protect the public; (2) consult with such State or interstate agencies (including legislative committees) as he deems appropriate; (3) consider whether any such proposed standard is reasonable for the particular type of manufactured home or for the geographic region for which it is prescribed; (4) consider the probable effect of such standard on the cost of the manufactured home to the public; and (5) consider the extent to which any such standard will contribute to carrying out the purposes of this title. (g) The Secretary shall issue an order establishing initial Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act. (h) The Secretary shall exclude from the coverage of this title any structure which the manufacturer certifies, in a form prescribed by the Secretary, to be: Changes to such document that have been approved on or before the date of the enactment of this Act.". (1) designed only for erection or installation on a site-built permanent foundation; (2) not designed to be moved once so erected or installed; (3) designed and manufactured to comply with a nationally recognized model building code or an equivalent local code, or with a State or local modular building code recognized as generally equivalent to building codes for site-built housing, or with minimum property standards adopted by the Secretary pursuant to title II of the National Housing Act; and (4) to the manufacturer's knowledge is not intended to be used other than on a site-built permanent foundation. (i)(1) The Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards established by the Secretary under this section shall include preemptive energy conservation standards in accordance with this subsection. (2) The energy conservation standards established under this subsection shall be cost-effective energy conservation performance standards designed to ensure the lowest total of construction and operating costs. (3) The energy conservation standards established under this subsection shall take into consideration the design and factory construction techniques of manufactured homes and shall provide for alternative practices that result in net estimated energy consumption equal to or less than the specified standards. (j) The Secretary shall develop a new standard for hardboard panel siding on manufactured housing taking into account durability, longevity, consumer's costs for maintenance and any other relevant information pursuant to subsection (f). The Secretary shall consult with the National Manufactured Home Advisory Council and the National Commission on Manufactured Housing in establishing the new standard. The new performance standard developed shall ensure the durability of hardboard sidings for at least a normal life of a mortgage with minimum maintenance required. Not later than 180 days from the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall update the standards for hardboard siding. [42 U.S.C. 5403] NATIONAL MANUFACTURED HOME ADVISORY COUNCIL SEC. 605. (a) The Secretary shall appoint a National Manufactured Home Advisory Council with the following composition: eight members selected from among consumer organizations, community organizations, and recognized consumer leaders; eight members from the manufactured home industry and related groups including at least one representative of small business; and eight members selected from government agencies including Federal, State, and local governments. Appointments under this subsection shall be made without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to appointments in the competitive service, classification, and General Schedule pay rates. The Secretary shall publish the names of the members of the Council annually and shall designate which members represent the general public. (b) The Secretary shall, to the extent feasible, consult with the Advisory Council prior to establishing, amending, or revoking any |