(A) At the time of making application, all applicants for a manufactured housing license shall furnish a corporate surety bond or other security in the form prescribed by the board for the license term in the following amounts:

(1) for a manufactured home manufacturer, seventy-five thousand dollars for each location;

(2) for a manufactured home retail dealer, thirty thousand dollars for each location;

(3) for a manufactured home retail salesman, fifteen thousand dollars;

(4) for a manufactured home contractor, installer, or repairer, five thousand dollars.

(B)(1) The surety bond or other approved security must be made payable to the board and claims may be initiated only through the complaint process provided by the board. Claims are limited to the reasons stated in this section and are for actual damages and do not include attorney's fees or punitive damages incurred by the consumer as a result of the complaint.

(2) At the beginning of each subsequent license renewal period, a continuation certificate or proof of surety bond coverage or other approved security through the license renewal period must be delivered to the board with the application and fee.

(3) The board, upon a finding of a violation by a licensee or that an applicant is unable to meet the financial responsibility guidelines, may further require the licensee to increase the amount of a surety bond or other approved security. An increase must be proportioned to the seriousness of the offense, the repeat nature of the licensee's violations, or related to the financial condition of an applicant. The total amount may not exceed an additional seventy-five thousand dollars for manufacturers, fifty thousand dollars for dealers, twenty thousand dollars for salespersons, and ten thousand dollars for manufactured home contractors, installers, and repairers. The board, after one year, may reduce an increased surety bond or other approved security when satisfied that violations have been cured by appropriate corrective action and that the licensee is otherwise in good standing. The bonds cannot be reduced below amounts provided in this section.

(4) The surety bond or other approved security may not be released by the board until all claims and complaints against the licensee have been finally resolved or until three years after the licensee has ceased doing business in South Carolina, whichever period is later.

(5) All liability on a surety bond or other approved security is applicable to the surety bond or other security in effect as of the date of the occurrence which gave rise to the liability. In the event that the total claims against a surety bond or other form of approved security exceed the coverage amount of the surety bond or other approved security, the proceeds of the surety bond or other approved security may be distributed pro rata to the claimants.

(6) The board may file claims against a licensee's surety bond or other approved security and indemnify a consumer for losses to the limit of the surety bond or other approved security for damages resulting from the licensee's violation of this chapter or regulations promulgated by its authority or from fraud, misrepresentation, making of false promises, or the refusal, failure, or inability to transfer good and sufficient legal title.

HISTORY: 2001 Act No. 61, Section 1; 2013 Act No. 97, Section 4, eff June 20, 2013.

Editor's Note

Prior Laws:1989 Act No. 128, Section 1; 1996 Act No. 301 Sections 7, 8; 1976 Code Section 40-29-120.

Effect of Amendment

The 2013 amendment rewrote subsection (B)(3).