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Manufactured Home Foundation Certification

Foundation Certification

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

Do You Know What You Have? Mobile, Manufactured or Modular Home

About Modular Homes

Think of a modular home as a hand-framed stick built home constructed in a controlled factory environment. It is built off site and trucked to your lot. Modular homes can be one or multiple stories. They are built to modern building codes and are placed frequently on permeate foundations such as slabs or basements.

About Mobile Homes

Mobile homes are pre-1976 homes that are built with no federal or state standard, are on a frame with wheels, and are frequently only tied down to the earth without a permanent foundation.

About Manufactured Homes

Manufactured Homes are homes built to HUD Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD Code) and built after 1976. They are also called mobile homes but are built far better, have a certification stamp or plate and are built with a permanent chassis. Manufactured homes have exterior certification labels and an interior data plate where Mobile and Modular homes do not.

What if My Home was Built Prior to 1976?

Homes built prior to June 15, 1976, even with modifications, do not meet the HUD standards and cannot be accepted as compliant with the HUD Code. FHA does not insure mortgages on manufactured homes built prior to June 15, 1976. Most other mortgage insurance firms follow FHA’s policy.

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