322B.1 Short title.

This chapter may be cited as the "Mobile Home Dealers Licensing Act".

322B.2 Definitions.

As used in this chapter unless the context otherwise requires:

1. To sell "at retail" means to sell a mobile home to a person who will devote it to a consumer use.

2. "Department" means the state department of transportation.

3. "Mobile home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which exceeds eight feet in width and thirty-two feet in length, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to one or more utilities. "Mobile home" also includes "manufactured housing" as the term is defined in section 321.1.

4. "Mobile home dealer" means a person who, for a commission or other thing of value, sells, exchanges or offers or attempts to negotiate a sale or exchange of an interest in a mobile home or who is engaged wholly or in part in the business of selling mobile homes, whether or not the mobile homes are owned by the dealer. "Mobile home dealer" does not include any of the following:

a. A receiver, trustee, administrator, executor, guardian, attorney or other person appointed by or acting under the judgment or order of a court to transfer an interest in a mobile home.

b. A person transferring a mobile home registered in the person's name and used for personal, family or household purposes, if the transfer is an occasional sale and is not part of the business of the transferor.

c. A person who transfers an interest in a mobile home only as an incident to engaging in the business of financing new or used mobile homes.

5. "Mobile home distributor" means a person who sells or distributes mobile homes to mobile home dealers.

6. "Mobile home manufacturer" means a person engaged in the business of fabricating or assembling mobile homes.

7. "New mobile home" means a mobile home that has not been sold at retail.

8. "Used mobile home" means a mobile home that has been sold at retail and previously registered in this or any other state.

322B.3 Mobile home dealer license--procedure.

1. License application. A mobile home dealer shall file in the office of the department an application for license as a mobile home dealer in the same manner as a motor vehicle dealer applicant under section 322.4 or as the department may prescribe. A mobile home dealer license may be issued in the same manner as a motor vehicle dealer license pursuant to section 322.7.

2. License fees. The license fee for a mobile home dealer is seventy dollars for a two-year license, one hundred forty dollars for a four-year license, or two hundred ten dollars for a six-year license. If the application is denied, the department shall refund the fee. Fees and funds accruing from the administration of this chapter shall be accounted for and paid by the department to the treasurer of state monthly for deposit in the road use tax fund of the state.

3. Surety bond. Before the issuance of a mobile home dealer's license, an applicant for a license shall file with the department a surety bond executed by the applicant as principal and executed by a corporate surety company, licensed and qualified to do business within this state, which bond shall run to the state of Iowa, be in the amount of fifty thousand dollars and be conditioned upon the faithful compliance by the applicant as a dealer with all of the statutes of this state regulating the business of the dealer and indemnifying any person dealing or transacting business with the dealer in connection with a mobile home from a loss or damage occasioned by the failure of the dealer to comply with this chapter, including, but not limited to, the furnishing of a proper and valid document of title to the mobile home involved in the transaction.

4. Permits for fairs, shows, and exhibitions. Mobile home dealers, in addition to selling mobile homes at their principal place of business and lots, may, upon receipt of a temporary permit approved by the department, display and offer new mobile homes for sale and negotiate sales of new mobile homes at fairs, shows and exhibitions which are approved by the department. Application for temporary permits shall be made upon forms provided by the department and shall be accompanied by a ten dollar permit fee. Temporary permits shall be issued for a period not to exceed fourteen days.

5. Mobile home hookups. A mobile home dealer or an employee of a mobile home dealer may perform water, gas, electrical, and other utility service connections in a mobile home space, or within ten feet of such space, located in a mobile home park, and the dealer or an employee of the dealer may install a tie-down system on a mobile home located in a mobile home park. The connections are subject to inspection and approval by local building code officials and the mobile home dealer shall pay the inspection fee, if any.

322B.4 License application and fees.

Upon application and payment of a thirty-five dollar fee, a person may be licensed as a manufacturer or distributor of mobile homes. The application shall be in the form and shall contain information as the department prescribes. The license shall be granted or refused within thirty days after application. The license expires, unless sooner revoked or suspended by the department, on December 31 of the calendar year for which the license was granted.

322B.5 Notification.

The department shall notify the state building code commissioner of each license issued to a mobile home dealer.

322B.6 Revocation, suspension and denial of license.

The department may revoke, suspend, or refuse the license of a mobile home dealer, mobile home manufacturer, or mobile home distributor, as applicable, if the department finds that the mobile home dealer, manufacturer, or distributor is guilty of any of the following acts or offenses:

1. Fraud in procuring a license.

2. Knowingly making misleading, deceptive, untrue or fraudulent representations in the business of a mobile home dealer, manufacturer, or distributor or engaging in unethical conduct or practice harmful or detrimental to the public.

3. Conviction of a felony related to the business of a mobile home dealer, manufacturer, or distributor. A copy of the record of conviction or plea of guilty shall be sufficient evidence for the purposes of this section.

4. Failing upon the sale or transfer of a mobile home to deliver to the purchaser or transferee of the mobile home sold or transferred, a manufacturer's or importer's certificate, or a certificate of title duly assigned, as provided in chapter 321.

5. Failing upon the purchasing or otherwise acquiring of a mobile home to obtain a manufacturer's or importer's certificate, a new certificate of title or a certificate of title duly assigned as provided in chapter 321.

6. Failing to apply for and obtain from a county treasurer a certificate of title for a used mobile home, titled in Iowa, acquired by the dealer within thirty days from the date of acquisition, as required under section 321.45, subsection 4.

In accordance with chapters 10A and 17A, each person whose license or application is revoked, suspended, or refused shall be provided an opportunity for a hearing before the department of inspections and appeals.

322B.7 Rules.

1. The state department of transportation shall prescribe reasonable rules under chapter 17A for the administration and enforcement of this chapter.

2. The department shall prescribe forms to be used in connection with the licensing of persons under this chapter.

322B.8 Unlawful practice.

It is unlawful for a person to engage in business as a mobile home dealer, mobile home manufacturer, or mobile home distributor in this state without first acquiring and maintaining a license in accordance with this chapter. A person convicted of violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a serious misdemeanor.

322B.9 Mobile home and modular home retail installment contract--finance charge.

A retail installment contract or agreement for the sale of a mobile home or modular home may include a finance charge not in excess of an amount equivalent to one and three-fourths percent per month simple interest on the declining balance of the amount financed.

"Amount financed" shall be as defined in section 537.1301.

The limitations contained in this section do not apply in a transaction referred to in section 535.2, subsection 2. With respect to a consumer credit sale, as defined in section 537.1301, the limitations contained in this section supersede conflicting provisions of chapter 537, article 2, part 2.