[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4776 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4776

  To establish programs to provide counseling to homebuyers regarding 
  voluntary home inspections and to train counselors to provide such 
                  counseling, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 18, 2007

  Ms. Velazquez (for herself and Ms. Clarke) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish programs to provide counseling to homebuyers regarding 
  voluntary home inspections and to train counselors to provide such 
                  counseling, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Consumer Protection Home Inspection 
Counseling Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO TRAIN COUNSELORS TO PROVIDE CONSUMERS WITH VOLUNTARY 
              HOME INSPECTION COUNSELING.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
(in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a 
comprehensive program to train staff of the Department, contractors, 
individuals, and entities that provide housing counseling under 
programs authorized, certified, or funded under section 106 of the 
Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x) to also 
provide counseling to consumers on voluntary home inspection. The 
training program shall include development of a training module to 
train counselors as well as counseling aids to be used by housing 
counselors and suitable for distribution to consumers. The training 
materials shall be written in plain language and shall be 
comprehensible to untrained consumers with or without ongoing 
assistance from housing counselors.
    (b) Content.--At a minimum, the home inspection counseling program 
established under this section, and the training module and counseling 
aids developed under this section, shall convey the following 
information:
            (1) That a home inspection in connection with purchase of a 
        home is voluntary, but not mandatory.
            (2) That the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        recommends that homebuyers obtain a voluntary home inspection.
            (3) That a home inspection is not required in the case of 
        an FHA loan insured under title II of the National Housing Act 
        (12 U.S.C. 1707 et seq.) and that a home inspection is not 
        performed by FHA.
            (4) That in most cases, no home inspection will be 
        performed unless the homebuyer requests one.
            (5) That it is the burden of the homebuyer to arrange for a 
        home inspection if one is requested.
            (6) That an appraisal is not equivalent to a home 
        inspection.
            (7) That the homebuyer may be able to make the purchase of 
        a home contingent on the outcome of a home inspection if the 
        seller agrees to such a contingency in the sales contract.
            (8) That if the homebuyer chooses to obtain a home 
        inspection, it is generally to the homebuyer's benefit to do so 
        as early as possible.
            (9) That the homebuyer should consider requesting a 
        voluntary home inspection.
    (c) Mandatory HUD Form.--Individuals and entities that provide 
housing counseling under programs authorized, certified, or funded 
under section 106 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 
U.S.C. 1701x) shall be instructed to present and explain in person at a 
counseling session, to each homebuyer who is receiving such counseling, 
a copy of HUD Form 92564-CN, ``For Your Protection: Get a Home 
Inspection''.
    (d) Additional Guidance Materials.--The Secretary shall develop, in 
consultation with national professional home inspector associations, 
additional guidance materials to educate housing counselors on how to 
advise consumers how to locate, interview, and select a professional 
home inspector, and on how consumers may independently locate, 
interview, and select a professional home inspector. The Secretary 
shall require that these materials be made available to counselors 
providing housing counseling under the programs referred to in 
subsection (c).

SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION OF COUNSELORS.

    (a) Protocol.--The Secretary shall, in the discretion of the 
Secretary, develop a new independent protocol, or amend existing 
protocols, to certify that housing counselors whose activities are 
authorized, certified, or funded in whole or in part under section 106 
of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x) have 
successfully completed training using the voluntary home inspection 
training module and counseling aids established and developed pursuant 
to section 2 of this Act.
    (b) Standards for Materials and Forms.--The Secretary shall 
establish standards and requirements for voluntary home inspection 
counseling materials and forms to be used, as appropriate, by 
organizations providing voluntary home inspection counseling. Such 
standards shall conform with the content requirements under section 
2(b) of this Act.

SEC. 4. HOME INSPECTION COUNSELING REQUIREMENTS.

    Each person providing counseling for a housing counseling entity 
authorized, certified, or funded in whole or in part under section 106 
of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x) 
shall be trained through the voluntary home inspection training module 
established pursuant to section 2(a)of this Act and shall distribute 
the counseling aids to be developed under such section. Any 
homeownership counseling program required under, or provided in 
connection with, any program administered by the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development shall be provided only by organizations or 
counselors certified by the Secretary pursuant to this Act as competent 
to provide voluntary home inspection counseling. The Secretary may 
withhold, withdraw, or suspend housing counseling certifications for 
any housing counselor or counseling entity that fails to meet the 
requirements of this Act.

SEC. 5. PUBLIC OUTREACH.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall take such actions as may be 
necessary to make the existence of the training module and counseling 
aids developed under section 2 known to State and local governments, 
nonprofit organizations, consumer organizations, and the general 
public. The Secretary shall further make the materials generally 
available for electronic access, including the World Wide Web, and via 
other means. Such public outreach activities shall include--
            (1) the development of a one page, plain-language statement 
        in conspicuous 16-point type or larger, rendered at least in 
        both English and Spanish versions;
            (2) the development and distribution of national multimedia 
        public service announcements to be made available to print, 
        broadcast, electronic, and web-based media outlets;
            (3) the development of an advisory statement to mortgage 
        lenders advising them to provide notice of the availability of 
        home inspection counseling at time of mortgage application; and
            (4) the establishment, operation, and publication by the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development of a toll-free 
        telephone number to receive requests for information on home 
        inspection counseling.
    (b) Targets.--The public outreach carried out under this section 
shall be designed to reach real estate professionals, State and local 
housing counseling authorities, nonprofit housing organizations, 
employers who engage in employer-assisted housing programs, community-
based organizations with expertise in the field of housing counseling, 
and high school guidance counselors.
    (c) Emphasis on Vulnerable Populations.--In carrying out public 
outreach under this section, the Secretary shall place special emphasis 
on reaching vulnerable populations, including first-time and low-income 
homebuyers.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period beginning upon 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a 
report to the Congress describing the actions that have been undertaken 
to comply with this Act, disclosing the actions that are required under 
this Act but have not at such time been addressed, assessing the 
results of this Act that have been achieved at such time, identifying 
areas for improvement in the implementation of the Act, and making 
recommendations to enhance implementation of this Act.
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