Section 340. Service agreements; determination of responsible party

A. If a service agreement exists between or among the manufacturer, the dealer, and the supplier to provide warranty services on a manufactured home, the service agreement shall specify which of the regulants shall be the responsible party for remedying defects reported in the home. All service agreements shall be in writing. No service agreement shall relieve a regulant, determined by the board to be the responsible party for remedying the defect, of the responsibility for performing warranty service; however, any regulant accepting the responsibility to perform the warranty service obligations of other regulants under the service agreement shall be responsible to both the buyer and the other regulant to perform adequate warranty service.

B. If there is no warranty or service agreement between or among the regulants, the board shall have the authority to designate the responsible party for each defect given in the claim. The board may use reports and recommendations from the department staff investigating consumer complaints under the applicable provisions of the Code or may request staff to make a specific on-site inspection to determine the responsible party for remedying the defect.

C. If a warranty claim is made to a regulant that is not the responsible party for remedying the defect, that regulant shall immediately notify the claimant, in writing of that fact, and shall also notify, in writing, the regulant that is the responsible party for the defect, forwarding to the responsible party all available information about the claimant and the substance of the warranty claim.

D. If a defect is the responsibility of more than one regulant, each regulant shall be deemed to be a responsible party for the defect. A responsible party shall not fail to remedy defects because other regulants may also have joint responsibility for the defect or defects; however, nothing in this chapter shall prevent a responsible party from obtaining compensation by way of contribution or subrogation from another responsible party in accordance with any other provision of law or contracts between the regulants.

E. If a regulant corrects a defect under a warranty claim and the board determines that the regulant is not the responsible party, then that regulant shall be entitled to reasonable compensation for the warranty service performed. The compensation shall be from the responsible party for the defect.

F. It shall be a violation of this part for a regulant to coerce or require a nonresponsible party to perform warranty service under this chapter. Any regulant or responsible party may file a complaint to the board if warranty service obligations under this chapter are not being completed or enforced.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR449-01-02 § 5.4, eff. April 1, 1994.

Statutory Authority

§ 36-85.18 of the Code of Virginia.