North Carolina § 44A-24 - False statement a misdemeanor and grounds for disciplinary action against a licensed contractor or qualifying party.

§ 44A-24. False statement a misdemeanor and grounds for disciplinary action against a licensed contractor or qualifying party.

If any contractor or other person receiving payment from an obligor for an improvement to real property or from a purchaser for a conveyance of real property with improvements subject to this Article or to Article 3 of this Chapter shall knowingly furnish to such obligor, purchaser, or to a lender who obtains a security interest in said real property, or to a title insurance company insuring title to such real property, a false written statement of the sums due or claimed to be due for labor or material furnished at the site of improvements to such real property, then such contractor, subcontractor or other person shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Upon conviction and in the event the court shall grant any defendant a suspended sentence, the court may in its discretion include as a condition of such suspension a provision that the defendant shall reimburse the party who suffered loss on such conditions as the court shall determine are proper. The elements of the offense herein stated are the furnishing of the false written statement with knowledge that it is false and the subsequent or simultaneous receipt of payment from an obligor or purchaser by the person signing the document, a person directing another to sign the document, or any person or entity for whom the document was signed. In any criminal prosecution hereunder it shall not be necessary for the State to prove that the obligor, purchaser, lender or title insurance company relied upon the false statement or that any person was injured thereby. In addition to the criminal sanctions created by this section, conduct constituting the offense herein stated and causing actual harm to any person by any licensed contractor or qualifying party, as that term is used in Chapter 87 of the General Statutes, shall constitute deceit and misconduct subject to disciplinary action under Chapter 87 of the General Statutes, including revocation, suspension, or restriction of a license or the ability to act as a qualifying party for a license. History (1971, c. 880, s. 1.1; 1973, c. 991; 1993, c. 539, s. 406; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2012-175, s. 10.) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2012-175, s. 13, made the amendments to this section by Session Laws 2012-175, s. 10, applicable to improvements to real property for which the first permit required to be obtained is obtained on or after January 1, 2013, or, with respect to projects for which no permit is required, apply to improvement to real property commenced on or after January 1, 2013. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2012-175, s. 10, effective January 1, 2013, added "and grounds for disciplinary action against a licensed contractor or qualifying party" to the end of the section heading; inserted "subject to this Article or to Article 3 of this Chapter" in the first sentence in the first paragraph; substituted "purchaser by the person signing the document, a person directing another to sign the document, or any person or entity for whom the document was signed. In any criminal" for "purchaser, and in any" in the first sentence in the second paragraph; and added the last paragraph. For applicability, see editor's note. PART 4. COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BROKER LIEN ACT.