[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 194 (Friday, October 4, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 51782-51783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25637]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
24 CFR Part 3500
[Docket No. FR-3638-N-07]
RIN 2502-AG26
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing
Commissioner; Amendments to Regulation X, the Real Estate Settlement
Procedures Act: Withdrawal of Employer-Employee and Computer Loan
Origination Systems (CLOs) Exemptions; Notice of Delay of Effectiveness
of Rule
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing
Commissioner, HUD.
ACTION: Final rule; Notice of delay of effectiveness.
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SUMMARY: Due to recent legislation, this document delays until further
notice the effectiveness of a final rule revising Regulation X, which
implements the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 (RESPA).
This final rule was published on June 7, 1996 (61 FR 29238), and it was
corrected and revised on August 12, 1996 (61 FR 41944). Within 30 days
of the publication of this notice, the Department will provide further
notice indicating its time schedule for making effective the various
provisions of these rules.
DATES: The effective date of the final rule amending part 3500
published June 7, 1996 (61 FR 29238) and corrected August 12, 1996 (61
FR 41944), is delayed until further notice. See Supplementary
Information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Williamson, Director, Office of
Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Room 5241, telephone (202) 708-4560;
or, for legal questions, Kenneth A. Markison, Assistant General Counsel
for GSE/RESPA, Grant E. Mitchell, Senior Attorney for RESPA, or Richard
S. Bennett, Attorney, Office of General Counsel, Room 9262, telephone
(202) 708-1550. (The telephone numbers are not toll-free.) For hearing-
and speech-impaired persons, these numbers may be accused via TTY (text
telephone) by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-
877-8339. The address for the above-listed persons is:
[[Page 51783]]
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20410.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the rule published on June 7, 1996 (61 FR
29238) entitled ``Amendments to Regulation X, the Real Estate
Settlement Procedures Act: Withdrawal of Employer-Employee and Computer
Loan Origination Systems (CLOs) Exemptions,'' the Department
established an effective date of 120 days from publication: October 7,
1996. Subsequently, on August 12, 1996 (61 FR 41944), the Department
revised a document associated with that rules--Appendix D, the
Controlled Business Arrangement (CBA) Disclosure Statement Format--in
order to make it clearer how the format is to be completed.
On September 30, 1996, as part of an Omnibus Consolidated
Appropriations Act (section 2103 of the Departments of Commerce,
Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act, 1997 (Cong. Rec. H11,750-51 (daily ed. September 28, 1996))), the
President signed legislation which delays the effectiveness of the
amendment to Regulation X contained in the Department's June 7, 1996
final RESPA rule relating to payments to employees. Specifically, the
Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act provides that the effectiveness
of the amendment contained in the June 7, 1996 rule which would have
eliminated the provision of the Department's rule providing that
section 8 of RESPA permits ``An employer's payment to its own employees
for any referral activities'' (24 CFR 3500.14(g)(1)(vii)), is delayed.
The Act also provides that the effectiveness of the following
additional provisions is delayed: (1) the exemption for employer
payments to managerial employees (Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(viii) of the June
7 rule); (2) the exemption for employer payments to employees who do
not perform settlement services in any transaction
(Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(ix) of the June 7 rule); and (3) the provision
clarifying that ``A payment by an employer to its own bona fide
employee for generating business for that employer'' is permissible
(Sec. 3500.14(g)(1)(vii) of the June 7 rule).
Although not required by the legislation, the Department has
determined to delay temporarily the effectiveness of the June 7 rule,
as corrected and revised on August 12, in its entirety, and to continue
the prior rule, as in effect on May 1, 1996 and as corrected on
September 3, 1996 (61 FR 46510). This will provide the Department with
an opportunity to analyze the legislation and develop an appropriate
time schedule for making effective the various provisions of these
rules. Within 30 days of publication of this notice, the Department
will publish further information indicating this time schedule.
Affected persons are advised to comply with the guidance contained
in the three Statements of Policy published simultaneously with the
June 7, 1996 rule (61 FR 29255-29266), except to the extent that the
guidance in them interprets rule provisions that are delayed from
becoming effective. To ease any compliance burden on industry, the
Department's position is that, until further notice, persons are free
to use the revised CBA disclosure statement format published on August
12, 1996, if they so choose, or they may continue to use the format
which was in effect on May 1, 1996.
Dated: October 2, 1996.
Stephanie A. Smith,
General Deputy.
[FR Doc. 96-25637 Filed 10-3-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-27-M