Part VII

Inspection Fees

Title VI §620 Inspection Fees

In carrying out the inspections required under this chapter, the Secretary may establish and impose on manufactured home manufacturers, distributors, and dealers such reasonable fees as may be necessary to offset the expenses incurred by him in conducting such inspections, and the Secretary may use any fees so collected to pay expenses incurred in connection with such inspections, except that this section shall not apply in any State which has in effect a State plan under section 5422 of this title

Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary to grant the manufacturer's / installers/ dealers / distributors the right to direct pay for these services.

The great part of this program, if it is carried out as intended, and it has not been, is that it can almost completely pay for itself, which is great news for the taxpayer. HUD/FHA claim that what has prevented them from carrying out this Act, as intended is a lack of funding because of budgetary cuts. All of the functions necessary to carry out this Act are listed under Section 614, which is titled, Inspections of Mobile Homes and Records. All other functions of carrying out this Act are linked to this section by the use of the word PROMULGATE. This program requires very little in the way of Taxpayer dollars to operate and therefore any staffing cuts by HUD/FHA are not only unwarranted, but down right unconscionable in the light of this admission by HUD/FHA that they cannot carry out this program as directed by Congress because of budgetary constraints. Lawmakers never intended this program to be dependent on the political budgetary process, which would make it susceptible to the political winds blowing down upon HUD/FHA from Capital Hill or the White House. 

3282.307 (e)

To determine the aggregate cost of conducting the inspection program, the Secretary shall calculate the sum necessary to support:

(1) Inspection-related activities of State Administrative Agencies;
(2) Inspection-related activities performed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(3) Inspection-related activities performed by monitoring inspection contractors;
(4) Miscellaneous activities involving the performance of inspection-related activities by the Department, including on-site inspections on an ad hoc basis; and
(5) Maintenance of adequate funds to offset short-term fluctuations in costs that do not warrant revising the fee under the authority of this section.

(f) The Secretary may at any time revise the amount of the fees established under paragraph (a) or (e) of this section by placing a notice of the amount of the revised fee in the Federal Register.