Texas HB 1869 - New Law

[lgo_arch]

For those of you who haven't placed your homes on private land....i hope you like where they are at on Jan 1 2002! New Texas law takes effect tomorrow that basically
says... if you have a mortgage on your MH (or any other lien) you can't move it AT ALL until the lien is paid IN FULL!! New home purchasers DO THE LAND/HOME
Package, don't place in a park you will have to stay there until your mortgage is paid....NO EXCEPTIONS! We found out about this law Dec 8 2001 & purchased the land
developed (Min. req.) & placed the home Sunday, Dec 30. We will be occupying our home again Jan 20, 2002 after we get utilities again. We fought the law...and we
won!!! Check out www.TDHCA.STATE.TX.US for more info on HOUSE BILL 1869, go to manufactured housing section of the website.

[Ron Ambler]

Thank you for your info. I reviewed the www.tdcha.stat.tx.us web site and scanned through the 40 page house bill 1869 and could not find a reference to MH buyers who place their homes in MH park not being able to move them because of a "lein" against the home.

Can you provide the section of the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act where this would apply to MH owners in Parks? (HB 1869)

Regarding MH land/home packages and not being able to move the home off of the land; this is pretty standard real estate policy, nationwide. A MH (purchased as a land/home package) cannot be removed from the property, as long as a mortgage or lien exists against it (in most states) because it is considered real estate and it was on this basis that the lender made the loan. (MH plus the land value.)

If someone owned the land and home without any mortgage, they could remove the MH from the land if they wished. However, doing that would significantly reduce the value of their land for resale, unless they replaced with a new MH or stick built.

Ron (moderator, Manufactured Home Owners Forum)

[lgo_arch]

It isn't a matter of not being able to move it if it was located in a park, however as the law appears to read, if it is to be moved to privatly owned land after purchase (i.e. purchase & place in park & moved later) the question is in rolling the chatteled mortgage into a land/home mortgage and finding a financer to carry the total note, TXDOT will no longer issue state permits for homes with outstanding liens (tax or mortgage)where prior to Jan 1 2002 only the taxes had to be satisfied for TXDOT to issue the permit. Also with the new law, homes on private land are to be considered Real Property vs. Personal Property (which was the case prior to Jan 1).
So it may be able to move, however the title must be converted (in a title company) with the Personal Property title being "cancelled" and a new Real Property Title tieing with the land being issued. A lot of hoops with have to be gone through & noone holding the hoops right now knows exactly what needs to be done....also, through my own experience, most finance companies will not roll the mortgage as the home is now considered used & worth far less (in most cases). There are some good aspects to the new Law though, MH owners on land can now pull equity loans just like SB homes, the values of homes on land are expected to accrue at an equivilent rate with SB homes, a true homestead can now be filed on ALL MH's, this last one is probably the best, because now you cannot be sued and loose your home, wheras before you could. Good luck to all those trying to move your home.

[Ron Ambler]

Thanks for the input and clarifying the issue. It does sound like it will be a real snag for those who are trying to move homes (that have a lien) from a MH Park to their own land. Although, as you say, overall there may be some long term benefits to the new law. Will probably be a scramble until all the details are worked out.