As promised in MHARR’s memorandum dated August 28, 2017 (“MHEC Installation Conference Call”), MHARR has sent a communication

(copy attached) to the Director of Maryland Codes Administration, Mr. Norman Wang, strongly objecting to his assertion, set forth in an August 11, 2017 memorandum to Maryland local building code officials, that the federal preemption provision of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 “does not preclude a local government from setting its requirement of fire sprinkler[s] in manufactured homes.”

The MHARR communication, which is self-explanatory, is being distributed to the industry for use, as necessary, when this matter (and assertions such as Mr. Wang’s) arise from time to time, apparently fanned by the current management of the HUD manufactured housing program – which, consistent with its broader theme of imposing maximum harm on the industry and its consumers, clings to an outdated and unsupportable view of federal preemption — and the program’s installation contractor, based, in part, on its false assertion that the HUD Code Part 3280 standards are “minimum standards.”
MHARR will continue to monitor this matter and will update you as circumstances warrant.  In the interim, please feel free to call on MHARR as you wish regarding this critical matter of fire sprinkler mandates for manufactured homes.