Definitions.
24 C.F.R. § 3286.3
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01The following definitions apply in this part, except as otherwise noted in the regulations in this part:
Act means the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. 5401-5425.
Certification of installation means the certification, provided by an installer under the HUD-administered installation program in accordance with § 3286.111, that indicates that the manufactured home has been installed in compliance with the appropriate design and instructions and has been inspected as required by this part.
Defect means any defect in the performance, construction, components, or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended.
Design Approval Primary Inspection Agency (DAPIA) means a state agency or private organization that has been accepted by the Secretary, in accordance with the requirement of subpart H of part 3282, to evaluate and either approve or disapprove manufactured home designs and quality control procedures.
Distributor means any person engaged in the sale and distribution of manufactured homes for resale.
HUD means the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD-administered installation program means the installation program to be administered by HUD, in accordance with this part, in those states that do not have a qualifying installation program.
Installation means completion of work done specified in § 3286.505 to stabilize, support, anchor, and close up a manufactured home and to join sections of a multi-section manufactured home, when any such work is governed by the federal installation standards in part 3285 of this chapter or by state installation standards that are certified as part of a qualifying installation program.
Installation defect means any defect in the performance, installation, installation components, installation material, or close-up of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended or otherwise takes the home out of compliance with the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in 24 CFR part 3280.
Installation design means drawings, specifications, sketches, and the related engineering calculations, tests, and data in support of the installation configurations and systems to be incorporated in the installation of manufactured homes.
Installation instructions means DAPIA-approved instructions provided by the home manufacturer that accompany each new manufactured home and detail the home manufacturer requirements for support and anchoring systems and other work completed at the installation site to comply with the Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards in 24 CFR part 3285 and the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in 24 CFR part 3280.
Installation standards means the standards established by HUD in 24 CFR part 3285, or any set of state standards that the Secretary has determined provide protection to the residents of manufactured homes that equals or exceeds the protection provided by the standards in 24 CFR part 3285.
Installer means the person or entity who is retained to engage in, or who engages in, the business of directing, supervising, controlling, or correcting the initial installation of a manufactured home, as governed by part 3285 of this chapter.
Installer's license or installation license means the evidence that an installer has met the requirements for installing manufactured homes under the HUD-administered installation program. The term does not incorporate a state-issued installation license or certification, except to the extent provided in this part. The term does not imply that HUD approves or recommends an installer or warrants the work of an installer, and should not be used in any way that indicates HUD approval in violation of 18 U.S.C. 709.
Lessee means the first person who leases a manufactured home from a retailer after the initial installation.
Manufactured home means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is 8 body feet or more in width or 40 body 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. The term also includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification pursuant to § 3282.13 of this chapter and complies with the installation standards established under part 3285 and the construction and safety standards in part 3280 of this chapter, but such term does not include any self-propelled recreational vehicle. Calculations used to determine the number of square feet in a structure will include the total of square feet for each transportable section comprising the completed structure and will be based on the structure's exterior dimensions measured at the largest horizontal projections when erected on-site. These dimensions will include all expandable rooms, cabinets, and other projections containing interior space, but do not include bay windows. Nothing in this definition should be interpreted to mean that a manufactured home necessarily meets the requirements of HUD's Minimum Property Standards (HUD Handbook 4900.1) or that it is automatically eligible for financing under 12 U.S.C. 1709(b).
Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, or MHCC, means the consensus committee established pursuant to section 604(a)(3) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 5403(a)(3).
Manufacturer means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in importing manufactured homes for resale.
Manufacturer's certification label means the permanent label that is required by § 3280.11 of this chapter to be affixed to each transportable section of each manufactured home.
Person includes, unless the context indicates otherwise, corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals, but does not include any agency of government or tribal government entity.
Professional engineer or registered architect means an individual or entity: licensed to practice engineering or architecture in a state; and subject to all laws and limitations imposed by the state agency that regulates the applicable profession, and who is engaged in the professional practice of rendering service or creative work requiring education, training, and experience in architecture or engineering sciences and the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences in such professional or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning or design, and supervision of construction for the purpose of securing compliance with specifications and design for any such work.
Purchaser means the first person purchasing a manufactured home in good faith for purposes other than resale.
Qualified trainer means a person who has met the requirements established in subpart D of this part to be recognized as qualified to provide training to installers for purposes of the HUD-administered installation program.
Qualifying installation program means an installation program that a state certifies, in accordance with the requirements set out in subpart I of this part, as meeting the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 5404(c)(3).
Resident means any person residing in the manufactured home.
Retailer means any person engaged in the sale, leasing, or distribution of new manufactured homes primarily to persons who in good faith purchase or lease a manufactured home for purposes other than resale, and, for purposes of this part, the term includes any manufacturer or distributor that sells a manufactured home directly to a purchaser.
Secretary means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Set up means any assembly or installation of a manufactured home on-site that includes aspects of work that are governed by parts 3280 or 3285 of this chapter.
State includes each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-24.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026