North Carolina § 87-15 - 6. Homeowners Recovery Fund.

§ 87-15. 6. Homeowners Recovery Fund.

The Homeowners Recovery Fund is established as a special account of the Board. The Board shall administer the Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to reimburse homeowners who have suffered a reimbursable loss in constructing or altering a single-family residential dwelling unit. Whenever a general contractor applies for the issuance of a permit for the construction of any single-family residential dwelling unit or for the alteration of an existing single-family residential dwelling unit, a city or county building inspector shall collect from the general contractor a fee in the amount of ten dollars ($10.00) for each dwelling unit to be constructed or altered under the permit. The city or county inspector shall forward nine dollars ($9.00) of each fee collected to the Board on a quarterly basis and the city or county may retain one dollar ($1.00) of each fee collected. The Board shall deposit the fees received into the Fund. The Board may accept donations and appropriations to the Fund. G.S. 87-7 shall not apply to the Fund. The Board may adopt rules to implement this Article. The Board may suspend collection of this fee for any year upon a determination that the amount in the Fund is sufficient to meet likely disbursements from the Fund for that year. The Board shall notify city and county building inspectors when it suspends collection of the fee. History (1991, c. 547, s. 1; 2003-372, s. 1.) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2018-134, 3rd Ex. Sess., s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Hurricane Florence Emergency Response Act.'" Session Laws 2018-134, 3rd Ex. Sess., s. 5.6(a)-(c), provides: "(a) Notwithstanding G.S. 87-15.6 , the Governor may waive the fee assessed by city and county building inspectors and credited to the Homeowners Recovery Fund for the reimbursement of homeowners suffering reimbursable losses in constructing or altering a single-family residential dwelling unit. "(b) The waiver authorized under subsection (a) of this section only applies to residents of counties impacted by Hurricane Florence, as determined by the Governor. A permit applicant is allowed a refund of any fee assessed and collected by city and county building inspectors and waived pursuant to this section. A city or county subject to this section shall post notice of the availability of a refund on its Web site. "(c) This section is effective when it becomes law and applies to applications for issuance of a permit subject to the Homeowners Recovery Fund fee that were received on or after September 13, 2018. This section expires December 31, 2018."