For the purpose of applying this part, the following terms, unless otherwise expressly indicated, shall mean and have the following definitions:

(a) “Affiliate” means any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another entity.

Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 11302

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • board: means any entity listed in Section 101, the entities referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600, the State Bar, the Department of Real Estate, and any other state agency that issues a license, certificate, or registration authorizing a person to engage in a business or profession. See California Business and Professions Code 31
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Source: OCC
  • Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. Source: OCC
  • Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. Source: OCC
  • Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. Source: OCC
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • license: means license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Section 1000 or 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.7
  • Licensee: means any person authorized by a license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.8
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) Source: OCC
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21

(b) “Appraisal” means the act or process of developing an opinion of value for real property.

The term “appraisal” does not include an opinion given by a real estate licensee or engineer or land surveyor in the ordinary course of the person’s business in connection with a function for which a license is required under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) or Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 8700) of Division 3, or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10130) or Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 10500) of Part 1 and the opinion shall not be referred to as an appraisal. This part does not apply to a probate referee acting pursuant to Sections 400 to 408, inclusive, of the Probate Code unless the appraised transaction is federally related.

(c) “Appraisal Foundation” means the Appraisal Foundation that was incorporated as an Illinois not-for-profit corporation on November 30, 1987.

(d) (1) “Appraisal management company” means any person or entity that satisfies all of the following conditions:

(A) Provides appraisal management services to creditors or to secondary mortgage market participants, including affiliates.

(B) Provides those services in connection with valuing a consumer’s principal dwelling as security for a consumer credit transaction or incorporating those transactions into securitizations.

(C) Within a given 12 calendar month period oversees an appraiser panel of more than 15 state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in a state or 25 or more state-certified or state-licensed appraisers in two or more states, as described in Section 11345.5.

(2) An appraisal management company does not include a department or division of an entity that provides appraisal management services only to that entity.

(3) An appraisal management company that is a subsidiary of an insured depository institution and regulated by a federal financial institution is not required to register with the bureau.

(e) “Appraisal management services” means one or more of the following:

(1) Recruiting, selecting, and retaining appraisers.

(2) Contracting with state-certified or state-licensed appraisers to perform appraisal assignments.

(3) Managing the process of having an appraisal performed, including providing administrative services such as receiving appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports to creditors and secondary market participants, collecting fees from creditors and secondary market participants for services provided, and paying appraisers for services performed.

(4) Reviewing and verifying the work of appraisers.

(f) “Appraiser panel” means a network, list, or roster of licensed or certified appraisers approved by an appraisal management company to perform appraisals as independent contractors for the appraisal management company. Appraisers on an appraisal management company’s “appraiser panel” under this part include both appraisers accepted by the appraisal management company for consideration for future appraisal assignments in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions, and appraisers engaged by the appraisal management company to perform one or more appraisals in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions. An appraiser is an independent contractor for purposes of this part if the appraiser is treated as an independent contractor by the appraisal management company for purposes of federal income taxation.

(g) “Appraisal Subcommittee” means the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

(h) “Bureau” means the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers.

(i) “Consumer credit” means credit offered or extended to a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

(j) “Controlling person” means one or more of the following:

(1) An officer or director of an appraisal management company, or an individual who holds a 10 percent or greater ownership interest in an appraisal management company.

(2) An individual employed, appointed, or authorized by an appraisal management company that has the authority to enter into a contractual relationship with clients for the performance of appraisal services and that has the authority to enter into agreements with independent appraisers for the completion of appraisals.

(3) An individual who possesses the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of an appraisal management company.

(k) “Course provider” means a person or entity that provides educational courses related to professional appraisal practice.

(l) “Covered transaction” means any consumer credit transaction secured by the consumer’s principal dwelling.

(m) “Creditor” means:

(1) A person who regularly extends consumer credit that is subject to a finance charge or is payable by written agreement in more than four installments, not including a down payment, and to whom the obligation is initially payable, either on the face of the note or contract, or by agreement when there is no note or contract.

(2) A person regularly extends consumer credit if, in any 12-month period, the person originates more than one credit extension for transactions secured by a dwelling.

(n) “Department” means the Department of Consumer Affairs.

(o) “Director” or “chief” means the Chief of the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers.

(p) “Dwelling” means:

(1) A residential structure that contains one to four units, whether or not that structure is attached to real property. The term includes an individual condominium unit, cooperative unit, mobilehome, and trailer, if it is used as a residence.

(2) A consumer can have only one “principal” dwelling at a time. Thus, a vacation or other second home is not a principal dwelling. However, if a consumer buys or builds a new dwelling that will become the consumer’s principal dwelling within a year or upon the completion of construction, the new dwelling is considered the principal dwelling for purposes of this section.

(q) “Federal financial institutions regulatory agency” means the Federal Reserve Board, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Home Loan Bank System, National Credit Union Administration, and any other agency determined by the director to have jurisdiction over transactions subject to this part.

(r) “Federally regulated appraisal management company” means an appraisal management company that is owned and controlled by an insured depository institution, as defined in Section 1813 of Title 12 of the United States Code and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

(s) “Federally related real estate appraisal activity” means the act or process of making or performing an appraisal on real estate or real property in a federally related transaction and preparing an appraisal as a result of that activity.

(t) “Federally related transaction” means any real estate-related financial transaction that a federal financial institutions regulatory agency engages in, contracts for or regulates and that requires the services of a state licensed real estate appraiser regulated by this part. This term also includes any transaction identified as such by a federal financial institutions regulatory agency.

(u) “License” means any license, certificate, permit, registration, or other means issued by the bureau authorizing the person to whom it is issued to act pursuant to this part within this state.

(v) “Licensure” means the procedures and requirements a person shall comply with in order to qualify for issuance of a license and includes the issuance of the license.

(w) “Registration” means the procedures and requirements with which a person or entity shall comply in order to qualify to conduct business as an appraisal management company.

(x) “Secondary mortgage participant” means a guarantor or insurer of mortgage-backed securities, or an underwriter or issuer of mortgage-backed securities. Secondary mortgage market participant only includes an individual investor in a mortgage-backed security if that investor also serves in the capacity of a guarantor, insurer, underwriter, or issuer for the mortgage-backed security.

(y) “State licensed real estate appraiser” is a person who is issued and holds a current valid license under this part.

(z) “Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice” are the standards of professional appraisal practice established by the Appraisal Foundation.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 431, Sec. 38. (SB 800) Effective January 1, 2022.)

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