Unless clearly indicated otherwise, as used in this chapter:
(1) "Authorized official" means a person acting on behalf of a manufactured home retail dealer.
(2) "Board" means the South Carolina Manufactured Housing Board.
(3) "Construction and Safety Standards Act" means the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended.
(4) "Consumer" means a person who in good faith purchases a manufactured home or mobile home for purposes other than resale.
(5) "Defect" includes a defect in the performance, construction, components, or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part of it not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended.
(6) "Established place of business" means the office, building, or display area where the exercise of the ordinary and regular functions of the business are conducted for the purpose of carrying on the business of the owner and where books, records, files, inventory, and equipment necessary to properly conduct the business are maintained.
(7) "Imminent safety hazard" means a hazard that presents an imminent and unreasonable risk of death or severe personal injury.
(8) "Install/installed" means the operations performed at the occupancy site which render a manufactured home fit for habitation. These operations include, but are not limited to, positioning, blocking, leveling, supporting, tying down, connecting utility systems, and assembling multiple or expandable units.
(9) "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 in it.
(10) "Manufactured home apprentice retail salesperson" means an employee who works under the direct supervision of a retail dealer and who is authorized to offer for sale a manufactured home subject to the restrictions in this chapter.
(11) "Manufactured home contractor" means a person or entity, other than an employee of a licensed manufactured home retail dealer or a person licensed by the board or licensed by the South Carolina Contractor's Licensing Board to perform a particular function, who for valuable consideration engages in the installation, modification, alteration, or repair to the structural, mechanical, or electrical systems of a manufactured home.
(12) "Manufactured home installer" means a person or entity, other than an employee of a licensed manufactured home retail dealer or a person licensed by the board or licensed by the South Carolina Contractor's Licensing Board to perform a particular function, who for valuable consideration installs manufactured housing.
(13) "Manufactured home manufacturer" means a person, resident, or nonresident, who designs, constructs, or produces manufactured homes.
(14) "Manufactured home repairer" means a person or entity, other than an employee of a licensed manufactured home retail dealer or a person licensed by the board or licensed by the South Carolina Contractor's Licensing Board to perform a particular function, who for valuable consideration modifies, alters, or repairs the structural, mechanical, or electrical systems of a manufactured home.
(15) "Manufactured home retail dealer" means a person engaged in the business of buying, selling, offering for sale, or dealing in manufactured homes or offering for display manufactured homes for sale in South Carolina. A person who buys, sells, or deals in three or more manufactured homes in any twelve-month period or who offers or displays for sale three or more manufactured homes in a twelve-month period is considered a manufactured home retail dealer. "Selling" and "sale" include lease-purchase transactions.
(16) "Manufactured home retail salesman" means a person who is an employee or otherwise acts as an agent or representative of a manufactured home retail dealer and holds himself out as promoting, offering for sale, or selling the manufactured home retail dealer's goods or services.
(17) "New manufactured home" means a home that has not been previously titled and is still in the possession of the original retail dealer. If the home is later shipped to another retail dealer and sold to a consumer within two years of the date of manufacture, the home is still considered new and must continue to meet all state warranty requirements. However, if a home is shipped from the original retail dealer to another retail dealer and then sold to a consumer more than two years after the date of manufacture, the home must be sold as used for warranty purposes, and prior written notice of the "used" status of the manufactured home and how this status affects warranty requirements must be provided to the consumer.
(18) "Person" means an individual, natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, or other recognized legal entity.
(19) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
(20) "Standard" means the appropriate standards adopted by the State of South Carolina and established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards.
(21) "State Administrative Agency" or "SAA" means the agency of the State which has been approved to carry out the state plan and to enforce the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act within South Carolina.
HISTORY: 2001 Act No. 61, Section 1; 2004 Act No. 197, Section 1; 2005 Act No. 175, Section 1; 2008 Act No. 272, Section 2.
Editor's Note
Prior Laws:1989 Act No. 128, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 900; 1996 Act No. 301, Section 1.