April 1 MH TDHCA Board Meeting Recap

On Friday, April 1, the board of the Manufactured Housing Division of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs met in Austin. The agenda only contained two substantive items: approval of minutes, and approval of proposed rules.

Dispatching quickly with the minutes, the board moved on to the rules. The board voted unanimously to approve the rule changes. Due to prior board vacancies and difficulties securing a quorum, the rule changes had previously been proposed twice before. However, in the past the board was unable to meet within the 90 day window for rule approval, thus requiring a re-posting.

The rule changes were minor clarifications, updates following legislative changes, and changes to allow some flexibility related to continuing education provider approval. No public comments were submitted in writing or in testimony at the board meeting.

The following is a summary of the changes that will go into the rules following their posting to the Texas Register:

Section 80.3(f): Revised to clarify the installer is also eligible to request an industry inspection per §1201.355(b) of the Standards Act.

Section 80.30(f): Revised to clarify the rule also relates to any advertisements in social media.

Section 80.30(g): Revised to clarify the rule also relates to any advertisements in social media.

Section 80.32(u): The new section clarifies how long a person has to exercise their right of rescission without penalty or charge.

Section 80.36(a): Reworded to reference the definition of a salvaged home as defined in §1201.461 of the Standards Act.

Section 80.36(d): Reworded to reference the definition of a salvaged home as defined in §1201.461 of the Standards Act.

Section 80.41(d)(6)(B): The new subparagraph enables the continuing education provider to submit their renewal application and fee and continue operating. This will be most beneficial in the event that a renewal is pending and the regularly scheduled board meetings are postponed and or rescheduled, or canceled due to lack of a quorum.

Section 80.41(f)(1): The revision will assists in preventing former license holders whose license was revoked, suspended, and/or denied from applying for a salesperson’s license when they may be viewed as unsuitable to work in the manufactured housing industry.

Section 80.71(d): Adds new subsection to clarify that the Department may serve the notice of hearing on the respondent to the last known address as shown by the Department's records.

Section 80.71(f): Adds new subsection to clarify the process when a default is granted by the administrative law judge without issuance of a default proposal for decision.

Section 80.73(e): Clarifies the timeframe in which the Department requires the licensee to submit the completed service or work orders.

Section 80.73(f): Revised to remind license holders of the risk of requesting an extension without sufficient basis well in advance in case the request is denied.

Section 80.90(a)(6): Revised to include personal property in the designation for use as a dwelling that requires evidence of a satisfactory habitability inspection by the Department.

In addition to the rule changes, Executive Director Joe Garcia provided the board with a summary of the department’s recent activities. Since September the department has issued 28 enforcement orders with a case resolution average time of only 76 days. There have been 13 reports of illegal activity and the department has dismissed 201 cases for various reasons. The department has issued 1,078 licenses this fiscal year and processed 23,776 SOL applications. The installation inspections remain above 95 percent with the department having inspected 7,483 installations since September. And finally, for those interested in tax liens, there have been 21,673 tax liens entered and 56,542 tax liens released.