Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-14. Prohibited practices
An appraisal management company registered in this state shall not:
(a) Require an independent fee appraiser to collect the appraisal fee from a borrower, homeowner, or other person;
(b) Require an independent fee appraiser to provide the company with the appraiser’s digital signature;
(c) Alter, amend, or change an appraisal report submitted by an independent fee appraiser in any fashion, including removing the appraiser’s signature or adding information to or removing information from the report;
(d) Transmit an appraisal to the appraisal management company‘s client if the appraisal has been altered in any fashion after it was transmitted to the appraisal management company; or
(e) Require an independent fee appraiser to sign any indemnification agreement that would require the independent fee appraiser to defend and hold harmless the appraisal management company or any of its agents, employees, or independent contractors for any liability, damage, losses, or claims arising out of the services performed by the appraisal management company.
History of Section.
P.L. 2017, ch. 14, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 26, § 1.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-14
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Appraisal: means an analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the nature, quality, value, or utility of specified interests in, or aspects of, identified real estate. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-2
- Appraisal management company: means :
(i) In connection with valuing properties collateralizing mortgage loans or mortgages incorporated into a securitization, any external third party authorized either by a creditor of a consumer credit transaction secured by a consumer's principal dwelling, or by an underwriter of or other principal in the secondary mortgage markets, that oversees a network or panel of more than fifteen (15) certified or licensed appraisers in Rhode Island or twenty-five (25) or more nationally, excluding those appraisers who do not provide appraisal services for covered transactions, within a given year to:
(A) Recruit, select, and retain appraisers;
(B) Contract with licensed and certified appraisers to perform appraisal assignments;
(C) Manage the process of having an appraisal performed, including providing administrative duties such as receiving appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports to creditors and underwriters, collecting fees from creditors and underwriters for services provided, and reimbursing appraisers for services performed; or
(D) Review and verify the work of appraisers. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-2
- Client: means any person or entity who or that contracts with, or otherwise enters into an agreement with, an appraisal management company for the management of residential real estate appraisal services. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-2
- Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
- Independent fee appraiser: means :
(i) A natural person who is a state-licensed or state-certified appraiser and receives a fee for performing an appraisal, but who is not an employee of the person engaging the appraiser; or
(ii) An organization that, in the ordinary course of business, employs state-licensed or state-certified appraisers to perform appraisals, receives a fee for performing the appraisals, and is not subject to § 1124 of the federal Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 ("FIRREA"), Rhode Island General Laws 5-20.9-2
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6