SB119: SB119 Manufactured or Mobile Homes; limited exceptions to circumstances under which a manufactured home shall become real property; provide

Under current Georgia law, a manufactured or mobile home can become part of the real property it sits on once the owner files a Certificate of Permanent Location with the county and the state and surrenders the vehicle-style title. This bill keeps that basic process but adds new exceptions and protections. It says that even after a home converts to real property, a lender who already held a lien or security interest in the home before conversion keeps all the same rights and priority it had when the home was legally personal property, until that debt is paid off. The bill also lets such a lender repossess the home without needing the real property owner's consent and without following the usual removal procedures. It allows the lender, or a buyer who takes the home from the lender, to apply for a new vehicle-style title so the home reverts to personal property status. The changes take effect July 1, 2025, and apply to contracts entered into on or after that date.

• Preserves the rights and lien priority of a lender who held a security interest in a manufactured home before it converted to real property, until the debt is satisfied.
• Allows such a lender to remove the home from the real property without the landowner's written consent or the standard removal procedures required for converted homes.
• Lets a lender exercising these rights, or a buyer acquiring the home from that lender, apply for a new personal property certificate of title through the Department of Revenue.
• Clarifies that filing the Certificate of Permanent Location and surrendering the vehicle title does not create new licensing or conduct requirements for lien holders or their agents.
• Sets an effective date of July 1, 2025, applying the changes only to contracts entered into on or after that date.

Owners of manufactured and mobile homes, banks and finance companies holding liens on those homes, landowners where the homes are placed, county clerks of superior court, tax assessors, and the Department of Revenue, which processes titles and Certificates of Permanent Location.

Lenders who finance manufactured homes would keep their ability to repossess a home even after it legally becomes part of the land it sits on, which could affect how landowners, buyers, and lienholders sort out competing claims when a homeowner defaults on a loan.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 8-2-181 to state the general rule that manufactured homes are personal property unless converted, with new cross references to exceptions.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 8-2-182 on how clerks of superior court record and index the Certificate of Permanent Location and notify tax assessors and lien holders.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 8-2-183 to add subsections (c) through (f), preserving a prior lien holder's rights, priority, and repossession ability after a home converts to real property.
• Section 3 also allows a lender or a transferee acquiring the home from the lender to apply for a new certificate of title, treating the home as personal property again.
• Section 3(f) clarifies the conversion process does not add new licensing or conduct obligations for lien holders or their service providers.
• Section 4 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025, applying only to contracts entered into on or after that date.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date 2025-07-01
2. 2025-05-14Act 286
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-07Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-03-25House Passed/Adopted (House)
6. 2025-03-25House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-03-20House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
8. 2025-03-11House Second Readers (House)

• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)Primary sponsor
• Sam Watson (R, SD-011)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Harold Jones (D, SD-022)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Freddie Sims (D, SD-012)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2025

   53 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 0 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #204

2. PassedHouse voteMarch 25, 2025

   168 yea, 0 nay (5 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #311

• manufactured homes
• mobile homes
• real property law
• liens and security interests
• property titles