17:11C-71 Identification of place of business, storing of books, accounts, records; accessibility.

21. a. Every residential mortgage lender, residential mortgage broker, and mortgage loan originator shall identify the place of business where those books, accounts, records and other documents of the business conducted under the license, as may be prescribed by the commissioner, are maintained, to enable the commissioner to determine whether the business of the licensee is being conducted in accordance with the provisions of this act and the orders, rules and regulations issued hereunder.

b. Upon appropriate notice to the commissioner and if a change in location of records is made, the commissioner shall be notified in writing of the change within five business days of the change.

c. (1) Every licensee shall preserve all books, accounts, records and other documents pertaining to its business, and keep them available for examination by the commissioner, for at least three years from the date of original entry, or a longer time as prescribed by the commissioner by regulation.

(2) During any examination by the commissioner:

(a) The commissioner may control access to any books, accounts, records or other documents by either taking possession of the documents, or selecting a designee to be exclusively in charge of the documents in the location where the documents are maintained. During this period of controlled access, no person, other than the licensee as provided in subparagraph (b) of this paragraph, shall, or attempt to, alter, remove, abstract, mutilate, destroy, or secrete any of the documents, except with the written consent of the commissioner or pursuant to court order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

(b) Unless the commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe any books, accounts, records or other documents have been, or are at risk of being, knowingly withheld, altered, removed, abstracted, mutilated, destroyed, or secreted for the purpose of concealing a violation of this act, the documents shall be accessible as necessary for the licensee to continue to conduct business under the license.

d. A licensee may, upon approval of the commissioner, keep records at a location, identified by the licensee, outside this State, provided that the licensee shall make the records available in this State upon request of the commissioner, or, at its option have the records examined at its out-of-State location, for which it shall pay the reasonable expenses of the commissioner for the examination.

L.2009, c.53, s.21.