Ask a business law question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified business lawyers.
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

            For purposes of this Part, the following words, phrases, and terms are defined and construed as follows:

            (1) “Builder” means the dealer who sold the home, the manufacturer who constructed the home or any section of the home if it is a multi-section home, the installer who installed the home, any person or entity that designed, manufactured, or constructed the home, whether or not the consumer purchased the underlying real estate with the home or the builder initially occupied the home as his residence, or any person or entity licensed by the commission.

            (2)(a) “Building standards” for manufactured housing means the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401 et seq., as amended, and federal regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, along with any construction or installation-related standards adopted by the Louisiana Manufactured Housing Commission, together with any additional performance standards, if any, which the builder may undertake to be in compliance.

            (b) “Building standards” for modular housing means the International Residential Code as adopted by the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council.

            (3) “Commission” means the Louisiana Manufactured Housing Commission.

            (4) “Home” means a manufactured home or modular home as defined in this Section.

            (5) “Initial purchaser” means any person for whom a home is built or the first person to whom a home is sold upon completion of construction.

            (6) “Major structural defect” means any actual physical damage to the following designated load-bearing portions of a home caused by failure of the load-bearing portions which affects their load-bearing functions to the extent the home becomes unsafe, unsanitary, or is otherwise unlivable:

            (a) Foundation systems and footings.

            (b) Beams.

            (c) Girders.

            (d) Lintels.

            (e) Columns.

            (f) Walls and partitions.

            (g) Floor systems.

            (h) Roof framing systems.

            (7) “Manufactured home” or “manufactured housing” means a factory-built, residential dwelling unit constructed to standards and codes, as promulgated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401 et seq., as amended. Further, the terms “manufactured home” and “manufactured housing” may be used interchangeably and apply to structures bearing the permanently affixed seal of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

            (8) “Modular home” means a factory-built, residential dwelling unit built to the International Residential Code as adopted by the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council.

            (9) “Owner” means the initial purchaser of a home and any of his successors in title, heirs, invitees, or assigns to a home during the time the warranties provided under this Part are in effect.

            (10) “Warranty commencement date” means the date that legal title to a home is conveyed to its initial purchaser or the date the home is first occupied, whichever occurs first.

            Acts 2012, No. 112, §1; Acts 2017, No. 221, §1; Acts 2021, No. 29, §2.