If anyone reads a warranty or insurance policy they will find that everything they where told was under the policy is all of a sudden found in small print with all the exceptions that make the claim an exclusion.
All you legislators who are endorsing these kinds of misrepresentation are showing the people who elected you that you don’t care about about them. You only care about the people who are supporting your campaign and stuffing your pockets. What happens when the tables are turned and your have to go through loops to get things resolved? Good luck to you, you wouldn’t be covered.
SB 431 creates a set of rules for homeowners to follow that they were mostly doing anyway, such as writing a letter to builders to notify them of defects, but gives no provision of what will happen to a builder who fails to comply.
Section 7 of this bill even goes further…it says the homeowner’s required proof they complied with the law by notifying the builder is inadmissible evidence. To me, that means they have to comply with this law but can’t prove they did…i.e. their complaint will be thrown out no matter how valid. This wording has been in the bill for 3 years now, indicating it’s sponsors, the home builders, intended it to be that way.
This bill offers protection for builders, especially bad ones. It is not protection for home buyers. If this bill is passed into law, it will almost certainly make the already scant legal recourse for home buyers even worse. Numerous homeowners in OK and other states are unable to find lawyers due to the unliklihood of ever collecting a judgment from builders, who hide assets in multiple LLC’s and abuse bankruptcy laws to get out of paying debts and judgments. The state laws don’t allow recovery of more than actual damages and potentially legal fees, so there’s no profit in it for lawyers, contrary to the myth of easy money in litigation.
Versions of this bill, also referred to as “notice and opportunity to repair,” (NOR), and “right to repair,” have passed in many states now, disguised as consumer protection or just promoted by the building industry that spends millions a year on lobbying…and it has not lowered the cost of housing or builder’s insurance one bit.
The bill is promoted on the builder’s unsubstantiated claim that homeowners are suing builders for frivolous reasons, in droves, and gettting huge awards. As already stated, most state laws don’t even allow for such a scenario to happen. In reality, most people cannot sue their builder no matter what. They are stopped either by the cost and impracticality of litigation, or an arbitration clause in the builder’s contract that forbids using the courts.
Anyone who’s actually READ SB 431 could not still think it’s consumer protection. Does anyone actually think the home building industry would promote legislation out of the goodness of their hearts to protect homeowners? If they’re actually concerned about that, let them start first by insisting members of their industry build homes right and honor the warranty without the customer having to get a lawyer.
Cindy S. hit the nail on the head (no pun intended). SB 431 is NOT consumer protection, and anyone who reads the legislation should know that, including elected officials who are supposedly elected to protect the citizens in their district. Remember government OF the People, By the People, and FOR the people? What ever happened to that concept?
I find it interesting that when an industry wants legislation to protect the members of that industry from legal action due to their members own bad business practices, the industry writes the legislation and tacks the words Consumer Protection on the end. Oh — AND they donate a ton of money to get the right people elected and to hire lobbyist’s to spread the misinformation that it will be good for the consumer.
There have been newspaper reports in TX that the homebuilding industry spent nearly $9,000,000 over a four year period to protect builders from legal action, and the Rocky Mountain News reported last year that the industry spent $3.4 million. Does ANYONE really believe that the homebuilders spend that kind of money for consumer protection legislation??
If homebuilders really cared about the consumer and wanted to avoid legal action all they have to do is build the house right. Use roofing and siding that won’t disintegrate when it gets wet. Follow manufacturers directions for installation of products. Flash and caulk the windows, put rebar in the foundation and do proper grading around foundations. Pretty simple, don’t you think?? AND a whole lot less expensive than the millions they are spending to promote this phony consumer protection.
All homeowners want is what they paid for — a Safe and Sound Home for their family.
What about the ones that do things knowingly and it is done out of pure GREED? And they are just counting on getting their one year warranty in and being safe!! I have a web site called http://www.badstucco.com I live in the kansas city metro and the builders/codes officials know about defects and will do nothing about them!!! Read the story on the website of how we got here. It will make you sick.
My name is Larry Lake, I do home inspections here in Ponca City, OK and surrounding areas. I think it is great what you folks are doing by getting involved politically and trying to make a difference in the laws to protect the home buyers. You are fighting a giant, but don’t give up the fight, there are crooks in high places and I know this first hand because I have to deal with Realtors. I cannot say that all Realtors are crooked and I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this but I do believe that probably about 90% of Realtors are dishonest to one degree or another. They have tried to black ball me; I have been yelled at, cussed out, threatened you name it. My clients tell me that the Realtors try to pick certain inspectors for them and they have made a few bad comments about me. Bottom line what I am saying to you buyers is this. When you buy a home even a new one do some research and find a truly Independent Home Inspector that will be working in your best interest 100% and before you sign the contract to buy the home make sure you have a contingency on the inspection! I think it would even be better to get phase inspections if you are having a home built, that way your inspector can inspect each phase of the construction process. A good inspection is only pennies on the dollar and is worth it for peace of mind. However once a home is constructed the inspector can only report what he or she sees visually, in other words we cannot see defects inside of a wall, unless you have outside evidence such as cracks, etc.
After reading SB 431 and it’s sister bill in the House, the terms “Trojan horse” and “wolf in sheeps clothing” come to mind.
The Oklahoma legislators who sponsor/vote for these bills should be ashamed for misleading and selling out the citizens of Oklahoma. SB 431 has the fingerprints of the homebuilding special interest lobby all over it.
This proposed legislation creates biased rules of evidence against homeowners and adds red-tape to the wronged homeowners fight. Bottom line, this bill hamstrings Oklahoma’s citizens and allows bad/incompetent homebuilders to hide behind the skirt of absurd technicalities.
Oklahoma is a state where homebuilders are not licensed nor is any evidence of competency required to become a homebuilder. I think the Oklahoma legislature would do better if they served the citizens of Oklahoma as a whole and not just the spendthrift homebuilding special interest lobby.
I would like to hear from you to see how itis going for you/idid look you up on your brith date !!!! I hope that you well reply to my e-mail address, thank you very much
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If anyone reads a warranty or insurance policy they will find that everything they where told was under the policy is all of a sudden found in small print with all the exceptions that make the claim an exclusion.
All you legislators who are endorsing these kinds of misrepresentation are showing the people who elected you that you don’t care about about them. You only care about the people who are supporting your campaign and stuffing your pockets. What happens when the tables are turned and your have to go through loops to get things resolved? Good luck to you, you wouldn’t be covered.
SB 431 creates a set of rules for homeowners to follow that they were mostly doing anyway, such as writing a letter to builders to notify them of defects, but gives no provision of what will happen to a builder who fails to comply.
Section 7 of this bill even goes further…it says the homeowner’s required proof they complied with the law by notifying the builder is inadmissible evidence. To me, that means they have to comply with this law but can’t prove they did…i.e. their complaint will be thrown out no matter how valid. This wording has been in the bill for 3 years now, indicating it’s sponsors, the home builders, intended it to be that way.
This bill offers protection for builders, especially bad ones. It is not protection for home buyers. If this bill is passed into law, it will almost certainly make the already scant legal recourse for home buyers even worse. Numerous homeowners in OK and other states are unable to find lawyers due to the unliklihood of ever collecting a judgment from builders, who hide assets in multiple LLC’s and abuse bankruptcy laws to get out of paying debts and judgments. The state laws don’t allow recovery of more than actual damages and potentially legal fees, so there’s no profit in it for lawyers, contrary to the myth of easy money in litigation.
Versions of this bill, also referred to as “notice and opportunity to repair,” (NOR), and “right to repair,” have passed in many states now, disguised as consumer protection or just promoted by the building industry that spends millions a year on lobbying…and it has not lowered the cost of housing or builder’s insurance one bit.
The bill is promoted on the builder’s unsubstantiated claim that homeowners are suing builders for frivolous reasons, in droves, and gettting huge awards. As already stated, most state laws don’t even allow for such a scenario to happen. In reality, most people cannot sue their builder no matter what. They are stopped either by the cost and impracticality of litigation, or an arbitration clause in the builder’s contract that forbids using the courts.
Anyone who’s actually READ SB 431 could not still think it’s consumer protection. Does anyone actually think the home building industry would promote legislation out of the goodness of their hearts to protect homeowners? If they’re actually concerned about that, let them start first by insisting members of their industry build homes right and honor the warranty without the customer having to get a lawyer.
Cindy S. hit the nail on the head (no pun intended). SB 431 is NOT consumer protection, and anyone who reads the legislation should know that, including elected officials who are supposedly elected to protect the citizens in their district. Remember government OF the People, By the People, and FOR the people? What ever happened to that concept?
I find it interesting that when an industry wants legislation to protect the members of that industry from legal action due to their members own bad business practices, the industry writes the legislation and tacks the words Consumer Protection on the end. Oh — AND they donate a ton of money to get the right people elected and to hire lobbyist’s to spread the misinformation that it will be good for the consumer.
There have been newspaper reports in TX that the homebuilding industry spent nearly $9,000,000 over a four year period to protect builders from legal action, and the Rocky Mountain News reported last year that the industry spent $3.4 million. Does ANYONE really believe that the homebuilders spend that kind of money for consumer protection legislation??
If homebuilders really cared about the consumer and wanted to avoid legal action all they have to do is build the house right. Use roofing and siding that won’t disintegrate when it gets wet. Follow manufacturers directions for installation of products. Flash and caulk the windows, put rebar in the foundation and do proper grading around foundations. Pretty simple, don’t you think?? AND a whole lot less expensive than the millions they are spending to promote this phony consumer protection.
All homeowners want is what they paid for — a Safe and Sound Home for their family.
What about the ones that do things knowingly and it is done out of pure GREED? And they are just counting on getting their one year warranty in and being safe!! I have a web site called http://www.badstucco.com I live in the kansas city metro and the builders/codes officials know about defects and will do nothing about them!!! Read the story on the website of how we got here. It will make you sick.
My name is Larry Lake, I do home inspections here in Ponca City, OK and surrounding areas. I think it is great what you folks are doing by getting involved politically and trying to make a difference in the laws to protect the home buyers. You are fighting a giant, but don’t give up the fight, there are crooks in high places and I know this first hand because I have to deal with Realtors. I cannot say that all Realtors are crooked and I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this but I do believe that probably about 90% of Realtors are dishonest to one degree or another. They have tried to black ball me; I have been yelled at, cussed out, threatened you name it. My clients tell me that the Realtors try to pick certain inspectors for them and they have made a few bad comments about me. Bottom line what I am saying to you buyers is this. When you buy a home even a new one do some research and find a truly Independent Home Inspector that will be working in your best interest 100% and before you sign the contract to buy the home make sure you have a contingency on the inspection! I think it would even be better to get phase inspections if you are having a home built, that way your inspector can inspect each phase of the construction process. A good inspection is only pennies on the dollar and is worth it for peace of mind. However once a home is constructed the inspector can only report what he or she sees visually, in other words we cannot see defects inside of a wall, unless you have outside evidence such as cracks, etc.
http://www.geocities.com/LNLake27
After reading SB 431 and it’s sister bill in the House, the terms “Trojan horse” and “wolf in sheeps clothing” come to mind.
The Oklahoma legislators who sponsor/vote for these bills should be ashamed for misleading and selling out the citizens of Oklahoma. SB 431 has the fingerprints of the homebuilding special interest lobby all over it.
This proposed legislation creates biased rules of evidence against homeowners and adds red-tape to the wronged homeowners fight. Bottom line, this bill hamstrings Oklahoma’s citizens and allows bad/incompetent homebuilders to hide behind the skirt of absurd technicalities.
Oklahoma is a state where homebuilders are not licensed nor is any evidence of competency required to become a homebuilder. I think the Oklahoma legislature would do better if they served the citizens of Oklahoma as a whole and not just the spendthrift homebuilding special interest lobby.
I would like to hear from you to see how itis going for you/idid look you up on your brith date !!!! I hope that you well reply to my e-mail address, thank you very much
This year it\’s known as HB 1361 as well as SB 1749 to name at least two similar or identical bills. It\’s just as bad as before.