New Hampshire Contractor Licensing Law

New Hampshire Code · 5 sections

The following is the full text of New Hampshire’s contractor licensing law statutes as published in the New Hampshire Code. For the official version, see the New Hampshire Legislature.

RSA § 310-A:185

Code of Ethics for New Hampshire Home Inspectors. – I. The code of ethics details the core guidelines of home inspection professionalism and home inspection ethics, covering crucial issues such as conflicts of interest, good faith, and public perception. Integrity, honesty, and objectivity are fundamental principles embodied by this code, which sets forth obligations of ethical conduct for the home inspection profession. II. Inspectors shall comply with this code, avoid association with any enterprise whose practices violate this code, and strive to uphold, maintain, and improve the integrity, reputation, and practice of the home inspection profession. III. Inspectors shall avoid conflicts of interest or activities that compromise, or appear to compromise, professional independence, objectivity, or inspection integrity. Inspectors shall not: (a) Inspect properties for compensation in which they have, or expect to have, a financial interest. (b) Inspect properties under contingent arrangements whereby any compensation or future referrals are dependent on reported findings or on the sale of a property. (c) Directly or indirectly compensate realty agents, or other parties having a financial interest in closing or settlement of real estate transactions, for the referral of inspections or for inclusion on a list of recommended inspectors, preferred providers, or similar arrangements. (d) Receive compensation for an inspection from more than one party unless agreed to by the client. (e) Accept compensation, directly or indirectly, for recommending contractors, services, or products to inspection clients or other parties having an interest in inspected properties. (f) Repair, replace, or upgrade, for compensation, systems or components covered by the standards of practice, for one year after the inspection. IV. Inspectors shall act in good faith toward each client and other interested parties. (a) Inspectors shall perform services and express opinions based on genuine conviction and only within their areas of education, training, or experience. (b) Inspectors shall be objective in their reporting and not knowingly understate or overstate the significance of reported conditions. (c) Inspectors shall not disclose inspection results or client information without client approval. Inspectors, at their discretion, may disclose observed immediate safety hazards to occupants exposed to such hazards, when feasible. V. Inspectors shall avoid activities that may harm the public, discredit themselves, or reduce public confidence in the profession. (a) Advertising, marketing, and promotion of inspectors' services or qualifications shall not be fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading. (b) Inspectors shall report substantive and willful violations of this code to the board. Source. 2008, 339:1, eff. July 1, 2008. Section

RSA 310-B:12-c

I. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to an appraisal management company that is a subsidiary owned and controlled by a financial institution regulated by a federal financial institutions regulatory agency.

II. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a business entity that exclusively engages real estate appraisers on an employer and employee basis or on a subcontractor basis for the performance of all real property appraisal services in the normal course of its business, except to the extent federal law or regulation requires such entities to register with and be subject to supervision by a state appraiser certifying and licensing agency.

RSA 310-B:12-h

I. An appraisal management company that applies to the office for a registration to do business in this state as an appraisal management company shall not:

(a) Knowingly employ any individual to perform appraisal services, who has had a license or certificate to act as an appraiser in this state or in any other state, refused, denied, cancelled, surrendered in lieu of revocation, or revoked, unless such license or certificate was subsequently granted or reinstated;

(b) Knowingly enter into any independent contractor arrangement for the performance of appraisal services, in verbal, written, or other form, with any individual who has had a license or certificate to act as an appraiser in this state or in any other state, refused, denied, cancelled, surrendered in lieu of revocation, or revoked, unless such license or certificate was subsequently granted or reinstated.

II. Prior to assigning appraisal orders, an appraisal management company shall have a system in place to verify that a person being added to the appraiser panel holds the appropriate appraiser credential in good standing.

III. Each appraisal management company seeking to be registered in this state shall certify to the office on an annual basis on a form prescribed by the office that the appraisal management company has systems in place to verify that:

(a) An individual on the appraiser panel has not had a license or certification as an appraiser refused, denied, cancelled, revoked, or surrendered in lieu of a pending revocation in the previous 12 months, unless such license or certificate was subsequently granted or reinstated; and

(b) Only licensed or certified appraisers are used to complete appraisal assignments in connection with federally related transactions.

RSA 310-B:12-i

Any employee of, or independent contractor to, an appraisal management company that performs a USPAP Standard 3 review of an appraisal report on property located in this state shall be an appraiser with the proper level of licensure issued by the office. Quality control examinations are exempt from this requirement as they are not considered a Standard 3 review.

RSA 310-B:2-a

In addition to the definitions in RSA 310-B:2 the following shall apply to appraisal management companies:

I. "Affiliate" means affiliate as provided in 12 U.S.C. section 1841.

II. "AMC National Registry" means the registry of state-registered appraisal management companies and federally regulated AMCs maintained by the Appraisal Subcommittee.

III. (a) "Appraisal management company" or "AMC" means a person that:

(1) Provides appraisal management services to creditors or to secondary mortgage market participants, including affiliates;

(2) Provides such services in connection with valuing a consumer's principal dwelling as security for a consumer credit transaction or incorporating such transactions into securitizations; and

(3) Within a given 12-month period oversees an appraiser panel of more than 15 state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in a state or 25 or more state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in 2 or more states;

(b) An AMC does not include a department or division of an entity that provides appraisal management services only to that entity.

IV. "Appraisal management services" means one or more of the following:

(a) Recruiting, selecting, and retaining appraisers;

(b) Contracting with state-certified or state-licensed appraisers to perform appraisal assignments;

(c) Managing the process of having an appraisal performed, including providing administrative services such as receiving appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports to creditors and secondary market participants, collecting fees from creditors and secondary market participants for services provided, and paying appraisers for services performed; and

(d) Reviewing and verifying the work of appraisers.

V. "Appraiser panel" means a network, list, or roster of licensed or certified appraisers approved by an AMC to perform appraisals as independent contractors for the AMC. Appraisers on an AMC's appraiser panel include both appraisers accepted by the AMC for consideration for future appraisal assignments in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions and appraisers engaged by the AMC to perform one or more appraisals in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions. An appraiser is an independent contractor if the appraiser is treated as an independent contractor by the AMC for purposes of federal income taxation.

VI. "Appraisal Subcommittee" means the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

VII. "Consumer credit" means credit offered or extended to a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

VIII. "Covered transaction" means any consumer credit transaction secured by the consumer's principal dwelling.

IX. "Creditor" means:

(a) A person who regularly extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than 4 installments (not including a down payment), and to whom the obligation is initially payable, either on the face of the note or contract, or by agreement when there is no note or contract.

(b) A person who regularly extends consumer credit if the person extended credit (other than credit subject to the requirements of 12 C.F.R. section 1026.32) more than 5 times for transactions secured by a dwelling in the preceding calendar year. If a person did not meet these numerical standards in the preceding calendar year, the numerical standards shall be applied to the current calendar year. A person regularly extends consumer credit if, in any 12-month period, the person originates more than one credit extension that is subject to the requirements of 12 C.F.R. 1026.32 section or one or more such credit extensions through a mortgage broker.

X. "Dwelling" means a residential structure that contains one to 4 units, whether or not that structure is attached to real property. The term includes an individual condominium unit, cooperative unit, mobile home, and trailer, if it is used as a residence. A consumer can have only one "principal" dwelling at a time. Thus, a vacation or other second home would not be a principal dwelling. However, if a consumer buys or builds a new dwelling that will become the consumer's principal dwelling within a year or upon the completion of construction, the new dwelling is considered the principal dwelling.

XI. "Federally regulated AMC" means an AMC that is owned and controlled by an insured depository institution, as defined in 12 U.S.C. section 1813 and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

XII. "Federally related transaction regulations" means regulations established by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the National Credit Union Administration, pursuant to sections 1112, 1113, and 1114 of FIRREA, Title XI, 12 U.S.C. sections 3341-3343.

XIII. "Person" means a natural person or an organization, including a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, association, cooperative, estate, trust, or government unit.

XIV. "Secondary mortgage market participant" means a guarantor or insurer of mortgage-backed securities, or an underwriter or issuer of mortgage-backed securities. Secondary mortgage market participant only includes an individual investor in a mortgage-backed security if that investor also serves in the capacity of a guarantor, insurer, underwriter, or issuer for the mortgage-backed security.

XV. "States" mean the 50 states and the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam, Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

XVI. "Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice" or "USPAP" means the current standards of the appraisal profession, developed for appraisers and users of appraisal services by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation.

The law belongs to the people. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 590 U.S. (2020)