Section 82C.14 Appraiser Independence; Prohibitions - Minnesota Statutes

82C.14 APPRAISER INDEPENDENCE; PROHIBITIONS.

(a) It is unlawful for any employee, director, officer, or agent of an appraisal management company licensed in this state pursuant to this chapter to influence or attempt to influence the development, reporting, or review of an appraisal through coercion, extortion, collusion, compensation, inducement, intimidation, or bribery, including but not limited to:

(1) withholding or threatening to withhold timely payment for an appraisal;

(2) withholding or threatening to withhold future business or assignments for an employed or independent appraiser, or demoting or terminating or threatening to demote or terminate an employed or independent appraiser;

(3) expressly or impliedly promising future business, assignments, promotions, or increased compensation for an employed or independent appraiser;

(4) conditioning the request for an appraisal assignment on the payment of an appraisal fee or salary or bonus on the opinion, conclusion, or valuation to be reached, or on a preliminary estimate or opinion requested from an employed or independent appraiser;

(5) requesting that an employed or independent appraiser provide an estimated, predetermined, or desired valuation in an appraisal report, or provide estimated values or comparable sales at any time prior to the completion of an appraisal assignment;

(6) providing to an employed or independent appraiser an anticipated, estimated, encouraged, or desired value for a subject property or a proposed or target amount to be loaned to the borrower, except that a copy of the sales contract for purchase transactions may be provided;

(7) providing to an employed or independent appraiser, or any entity or person related to the appraiser, stock, or other financial or nonfinancial benefits;

(8) allowing the removal of an employed or independent appraiser from a list of qualified appraisers used by any entity, without prior written notice to the appraiser, which notice must include documented evidence of the appraiser's violation of USPAP, chapter 82B, substandard performance, or otherwise improper or unprofessional behavior;

(9) request or require any employed or independent appraiser to provide the appraisal management company or any of its employees, or any of its clients, with the appraiser's digital signature;

(10) alter, amend, or change an appraisal report submitted by an appraiser, to include removing or applying a signature, adding or deleting information from the appraisal report;

(11) require the appraiser to collect the fee from a borrower, homeowner, or other person;

(12) require an appraiser to sign any indemnification agreement that would require the appraiser to defend and hold harmless the appraisal management company or any of its agents, or employees for any liability, damage, losses, or claims arising out of the services performed by the appraisal management company or its agents, employees, or independent contractors and not the services performed by the appraiser;

(13) use an appraiser directly selected or referred by any member of a loan production staff for an individual assignment; or

(14) any other act or practice that impairs or attempts to impair an appraiser's independence, objectivity, or impartiality.

(b) Nothing in paragraph (a) prohibits the appraisal management company from requesting that an independent appraiser:

(1) consider additional appropriate property information;

(2) provide further detail, substantiation, or explanation for the appraiser's value conclusion; or

(3) correct objective factual errors in an appraisal report.

History:

2010 c 347 art 6 s 22