RCW 18.310.150 Disciplinary actions—Grounds.

(1) In addition to the unprofessional conduct described in RCW 18.235.130, the director may take disciplinary action for the following:

(a) Failing to meet the minimum qualifications for licensure established under this chapter;

(b) Failing to pay appraisers no later than forty-five days after completion of the appraisal service unless otherwise agreed or unless the appraiser has been notified in writing that a bona fide dispute exists regarding the performance or quality of the appraisal service;

(c) Failing to pay appraisers even if the appraisal management company is not paid by its client;

(d) Coercing, extorting, colluding, compensating, inducing, intimidating, bribing an appraiser, or in any other manner including:

(i) Withholding or threatening to withhold timely payment for an appraisal;

(ii) Requiring the appraiser to remit a portion of the appraisal fee back to the appraisal management company;

(iii) Withholding or threatening to withhold future business for, or demoting or terminating or threatening to demote or terminate, an appraiser;

(iv) Expressly or impliedly promising future business, promotions, or increased compensation for an appraiser;

(v) Conditioning the request for an appraisal or the payment of an appraisal fee or salary or bonus on the opinion, conclusion, or valuation to be reached, or on a preliminary estimate or opinion requested from an appraiser;

(vi) Requesting that an appraiser provide an estimated, predetermined, or desired valuation in an appraisal report, or provide estimated values or comparable sales at any time prior to the appraiser's completion of an appraisal;

(vii) Providing to an appraiser an anticipated, estimated, encouraged, or desired value for a subject property or a proposed or target amount to be loaned to the borrower, except that a copy of the sales contract for purchase transactions must be provided to the appraiser;

(viii) Providing to an appraiser, or any entity or person related to the appraiser, stock or other financial or nonfinancial benefits;

(ix) Obtaining, using, or paying for a second or subsequent appraisal or ordering an automated valuation model in connection with a mortgage financing transaction unless there is a reasonable basis to believe that the initial appraisal was flawed or tainted and such basis is clearly and appropriately noted in the loan file, or unless such appraisal or automated valuation model is done pursuant to a bona fide prefunding or postfunding appraisal review or quality control process; or

(x) Any other act or practice that impairs or attempts to impair an appraiser's independence, objectivity, or impartiality, or that violates law;

(e) Altering, modifying, or otherwise changing a completed appraisal report submitted by an appraiser;

(f) Copying and using the appraiser's signature for any purpose or in any other report;

(g) Extracting, copying, or using only a portion of the appraisal report without reference to the entire report;

(h) Prohibiting or attempting to prohibit the appraiser from including or referencing the appraisal fee, the appraisal management company name or identity, or the client's or lender's name or identity in the appraisal report;

(i) Knowingly requiring an appraiser to prepare an appraisal report, engaging an appraiser to perform an appraisal, or accepting an appraisal from an appraiser who has informed the appraisal management company that he or she does not have either the geographic competence or necessary expertise to complete the appraisal;

(j) Knowingly requiring an appraiser to prepare an appraisal report under such a limited time frame when the appraiser, in the appraiser's own professional judgment, has informed the appraisal management company that it does not afford the appraiser the ability to meet all relevant legal and professional obligations or provide a credible opinion of value for the property being appraised. This subsection (1)(j) allows an appraiser to decline an assignment, but is not a basis for complaints against the appraisal management company;

(k) Requiring, or attempting to require, an appraiser to modify an appraisal report except as permitted under subsection (2)(a) or (b) of this section;

(l) Prohibiting, or attempting to prohibit, or inhibiting legal or other allowable communication between the appraiser and:

(i) The lender;

(ii) A real estate licensee;

(iii) A property owner; or

(iv) Any other party or person from whom the appraiser, in the appraiser's own professional judgment, believes information would be relevant or pertinent in completing the appraisal;

(m) Knowingly requiring or attempting to require the appraiser to do anything that violates chapter 18.140 RCW or other applicable state and federal laws or with any allowable assignment conditions or certifications required by the client;

(n) Prohibiting or refusing to allow, or attempting to prohibit or refuse to allow, the transfer of an appraisal from one lender to another lender if the lenders are allowed to transfer an appraisal under applicable federal law; or

(o) Requiring an appraiser to sign any indemnification agreement that would require the appraiser to defend and hold harmless the appraisal management company or any of its agents, employees, or independent contractors for any liability, damage, losses, or claims arising out of the services performed by the appraisal management company or its agents, employees, or independent contractors and not the services performed by the appraiser.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section may be construed as prohibiting the appraisal management company from requesting that an appraiser:

(a) Provide additional information about the basis for a valuation, including whether or not the appraiser considered other sales and reasons the other sales were either not considered relevant or included in the appraisal; or

(b) Correct objective factual errors in an appraisal report.

[ 2010 c 179 § 14.]