(A) It is unprofessional conduct for an employee, director, or agent of an appraisal management company registered pursuant to this article to influence or attempt to influence the development, reporting, or review of an appraisal through coercion, extortion, collusion, compensation, instruction, inducement, intimidation, bribery, or in another manner, including:

(1) withholding or threatening to withhold timely payment for an appraisal, with the exception of an appraisal noncompliant with the written terms of the agreement;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 40-60-440

  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • appraisal: means of or pertaining to appraising and related functions including, but not limited to, appraisal practice and appraisal services. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20
  • Appraisal report: means any communication, written or oral, of an appraisal. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20
  • Appraiser: means a person who holds a permit, license, or certification issued by the board that allows the person to appraise real property. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20
  • Board: means the South Carolina Real Estate Appraisers Board established pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association, foreign and domestic. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20
  • Valuation: means an estimate of the value of real estate or real property. See South Carolina Code 40-60-20

(2) withholding or threatening to withhold future business from certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, or demoting, threatening to demote, or terminating certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors;

(3) expressly or impliedly promising future business, promotion, or increased compensation for certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors;

(4) requesting that certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, provide an estimated, predetermined, or desired valuation in an appraisal report or provide estimated values of comparable sales at any time before the certified or licensed appraiser‘s completion of an appraisal service;

(5) providing to certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, an anticipated, estimated, encouraged, or desired value for a subject property or a proposed or target amount to be loaned to the borrower, excepting that a copy of the sales contract for purchase transactions may be provided;

(6) providing stock or other financial or nonfinancial benefits to certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, or an entity or person related to the appraiser;

(7) allowing the removal of certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, from an appraiser panel without prior written notice to the appraiser specifying the basis for his removal from the appraisal panel;

(8) obtaining, using, or paying for a second or subsequent appraisal or valuation in connection with a mortgage financing transaction, unless there is a reasonable basis to believe that the initial appraisal or valuation was flawed or tainted and this basis is clearly and appropriately noted in the loan file, or unless the appraisal review or quality control process written preestablished lending requirements, or unless the appraisal or valuation is required by state or federal law;

(9) engaging in another act or practice that impairs or attempts to impair the independence, objectivity, or impartiality of an appraiser;

(10) requiring an appraiser to indemnify an appraisal management company or hold an appraisal management company harmless for liability, damages, losses, or claims arising out of the services performed by the appraisal management company and not the services performed by the appraiser; and

(11) prohibiting certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, to file an initial complaint against the appraisal management company for alleged abuses of above prohibitions or other issues of misconduct. The board shall handle initial complaints in the same manner as those initial complaints against certified or licensed appraisers.

(B) The provisions of subsection (A) may not be construed to prohibit the appraisal management company from requiring certified or licensed appraisers, who are independent contractors, to:

(1) provide additional information about the basis for a valuation;

(2) correct objective factual errors in an appraisal report; and

(3) consider additional, appropriate property information, including the consideration of additional comparable priorities to make or support an appraisal.