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HUD Compliance Certification for Manufactured Housing Foundation for Home Buyers and Home Owners
We assist mobile home owners (or purchasers) by providing On-site Inspections and HUD Compliance Certifications for the Mobile Home industry. We help you out when you are buying (or selling) your manufactured home by providing you with a HUD Compliance Certification to ensure that loan guidelines are met.
Many times when the buyer of a manufactured home is getting an FHA, VA loan. The FHA or VA loan underwriter requires that the manufactured home has been placed on a permanent foundation according to HUD standards. This requirement is becoming more common, even with conventional (private) loans.
You (the home owner or buyer) are then required to hire a professional licensed engineer to certify that the manufactured home was installed according to the “HUD Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Homes”, dated 1996.
What are the HUD Guidelines?
The current HUD Permanent Foundation Guide for Manufactured housing is dated September of 1996. The guidelines specify many things in regards to the construction of Manufactured Homes. Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards mandate federal standards for design, construction, and installation of manufactured homes to assure the quality, durability, safety, and affordability of manufactured homes.
Nature of Program:
HUD issues and enforces appropriate standards for the construction, design, performance, and installation of manufactured homes to assure their quality, durability, affordability, and safety. The construction and safety standards preempt state and local laws that are not identical to the federal standards; they apply to all manufactured homes produced after June 15, 1976. HUD may enforce these standards directly or by various states that have established state administrative agencies in order to participate in the program. HUD may inspect factories and retailer lots and review records to enforce such standards. If a manufactured home does not conform to federal standards, the manufacturer must take certain actions, including possibly notifying the consumer and correcting the problem.
The statute generally prohibits selling, leasing, or offering for sale or lease, homes that do not meet the standards. Civil and criminal penalties may be sought for violations of the statute.
HUD also administers programs regulating the installation of the homes, reviewing the installation standard programs that 35 states have, and administering a federal installation program in the other 15 states. HUD also reviews the administration of state dispute resolution programs in 35 states and administers a HUD dispute resolution program in the other 15 states.
What is A HUD Permanent Foundation Inspection?
A HUD Compliance Certificate foundation inspection is a structural inspection for determining:
- If the manufactured home is permanently tied down, and
- That the home would not float off the piers or foundation,
- That the drainage of the house will not flood the crawlspace or basement.
What about Compliance Inspections of Additions?
Decks, porches and room additions are regulated by the construction codes for each state and/or local housing authority. If the property has an addition attached after the home was sited, the attachment is not regulated by HUD Standards or Regulations. If an addition has been added to a manufactured home, it may take the home out of conformance with the Standards.
We provide HUD Compliance Certificates
We provide HUD foundation compliance certificates for manufactured homes involving:
- Mobile Home Foundation Certs
- HUD/FHA compliant permanent foundations
- VA permanent foundations
- Conventional loan permanent foundations
Why Do I need One?
The short story is simple. Manufactured homes are inspected and approved at the factory. Typically the foundation built by a local contractor is also inspected and approved by the local zoning or building Code Office. Although it would appear that everything has been checked and verified, this does not take into account the setting and ATTACHEMENT of the home to the foundation. For over a decade this went unnoticed by HUD until disasters like Hurricane Andrew brought attention to the fact that many HUD homes that were moved off of their foundations and severely damaged or destroyed, may not have been had they been properly attached to the foundations. In 1996 HUD guidelines changed in order to remedy this issue moving forward. Now typically HUD homes being sold or borrowed against are required to have foundation attachment confirmed and a compliance certificate issued prior to the sale. Also, any attachments, such as additions, or decks need to be checked to make sure they do not compromise the integrity of the home.
We can help you with these requirements! We work with a team of Engineers to get your required Compliance Certifications to you typically within two to three days from the day of inspection.