TMHA Testifies Before Industrialized Building Code Council - New Modular Home Proposed Rules Modified
Last Friday the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council met in Austin. The five hour council meeting predominantly focused on discussions and eventual council recommendations on previously proposed administrative rules. Most of the proposed rule changes were in reaction to the 2013 Session bill, SB 672, which limits TDLR’s regulatory jurisdiction over modular homes to two years following final on-site inspection. The overall intent of the rules were to clearly evidence exactly when the clock starts ticking, and provide consumer notice of the department’s limited jurisdiction.
Attending the meeting from TMHA were executive director, DJ Pendleton, Director of Technology, Rob Ripperda, and TMHA lobbyist, Wade Long. Also from the industry were Martin Montgomery with RCS Enterprises and Larry Wilkinson with American Homestar. Wilkinson is a member of the council.
As originally proposed, the administrative rules contained many burdensome provisions, which in the absence of change, would have had a negative impact on the Texas modular home industry.
Both Pendleton and Montgomery testified multiple times on a range of proposed changes. The department staff also addressed the written public comments they had received from TMHA and American Homestar. Ultimately, many of the burdensome proposed rules were modified by the council. However, there were changes made that will now go to the TDLR Commission to approve.
The exact modified proposed rules will be published in the coming weeks. The basics of the new process will call for an industrialized builder to provide a specific notice to a consumer at the time a contract is executed that says the department’s enforcement authority is limited to two years from the final on-site inspection. The builder then must also provide what will be a modified two-page version of the TDLR final inspection report to the consumer within 15 days of the final inspection. The report will clearly state the date of the final inspection, thus notifying the consumer when the clock has started.
While TMHA advocated for both no additional notices and, in the alternative, a 45 or 30-day window, the council members agreed to the 15-day timeline. As originally proposed by the department the timeline would have been only five days. TMHA was pleased there were changes made to allow for an option to provide disclosures at a closing as well as the elimination of the previously proposed rule that would have made the builder obtain written and signed acknowledgement from the consumer they received the notice. Under the council modified proposed rules a builder has to only provide the two-page form to the consumer. A builder could comply using electronic means such as email, or simply mail the notification to the consumer.
The rule changes are not in effect yet. We anticipate the rules will go into effect by the end of April.