Virginia Code 36-85.23: Warranties.
Each manufacturer, dealer, and supplier of manufactured homes shall warrant each new manufactured home sold in this Commonwealth, and the dealer shall warrant the set-up of each manufactured home if performed by or contracted for by the dealer, in accordance with the warranty requirements prescribed by this section for a period of at least twelve months, measured from the date of delivery of the manufactured home to the buyer. The warranty requirements for each manufacturer, dealer, and supplier are as follows:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 36-85.23
- Buyer: means the person who purchases at retail from a dealer or manufacturer a manufactured home for personal use as a residence or other related use. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Code: means the appropriate standards of the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and the Industrialized Building and Manufactured Home Safety Regulations adopted by the Board of Housing and Community Development and administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 for manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- dealer: means any person, resident or nonresident, engaged in the business of buying, selling or dealing in manufactured homes or offering or displaying manufactured homes for sale in Virginia. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Defect: means any deficiency in or damage to materials or workmanship occurring in a manufactured home which has been reasonably maintained and cared for in normal use. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Manufactured home: means a structure constructed to federal standards, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is 8 feet or more in width and is 40 feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, 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 the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- manufacturer: means any persons, resident or nonresident, who manufacture or assemble manufactured homes for sale in Virginia. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- sale: include lease-purchase transactions. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Set-up: means the operations performed at the occupancy site which render a manufactured home fit for habitation. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
- Supplier: means the original producer of completed components, including refrigerators, stoves, water heaters, dishwashers, cabinets, air conditioners, heating units, and similar components, and materials such as floor coverings, panelling, siding, trusses, and similar materials, which are furnished to a manufacturer or a dealer for installation in the manufactured home prior to sale to a buyer. See Virginia Code 36-85.16
1. The manufacturer warrants that all structural elements, plumbing systems, heating, cooling (if any), and fuel burning systems, electrical systems, and any other components included by the manufacturer are manufactured and installed free from defect.
2. The dealer warrants:
a. That any modifications or alterations made to the manufactured home by the dealer or authorized by the dealer are free from defects. Alterations or modifications made by the dealer, without written permission of the manufacturer, shall relieve the manufacturer of warranty responsibility as to the item altered or modified and any damage resulting therefrom.
b. That set-up operations performed by the dealer or by persons under contract to the dealer on the manufactured home are accomplished in compliance with the applicable Code standards for installation of manufactured homes.
c. That during the course of set-up and transportation of the manufactured home performed by the dealer or by persons under contract to the dealer, defects do not occur to the manufactured home.
3. The supplier warrants that any warranties generally offered in the ordinary sale of his product to consumers shall be extended to buyers of manufactured homes. The manufacturer’s warranty shall remain in effect notwithstanding the existence of a supplier’s warranty.
1991, c. 555; 1992, c. 223.