Mobile Homes/Manufactured Housing

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Mobile Homes/Manufactured Housing

This page explains certain procedures for the transfer of mobile homes and how they can be recorded for tax purposes.

Mobile Home Legal Residence

To qualify for legal residence on a mobile home, the owner must meet the same requirements as other property owners. To receive legal residence on a mobile home, the owner must have the mobile home titled in his/her name at the time of application. Ownership of the land on which the mobile home is placed is not a requirement to apply for legal residence. (For example, one may rent a space in a mobile home park or have a lease on the parcel the mobile home sits.)

Mobile Home Transfers

When a mobile home is sold or transferred from one owner to another, the Assessor’s office requires the following in order to keep property records updated:

  1. A copy of the completed title showing the new owner’s name and address. Transfers of ownership will be made by copy of this only. (Form 400, “Application for Title to SC Highway Department” will not be accepted as proof of transfer of ownership.) We must have a copy of the completed title.
  2. When transferred, names on the title and property records will be the same. Therefore, be sure you have the mobile home titled exactly as you want it.

If we only receive a request for transfer by the new owner without accompanying title, the name of the former owner will remain as the owner of record until proof of ownership has been satisfied. The mailing address will be changed to show the new owner’s in care of (c/o) address. For example:

Mr. Former Owner
C/O Mrs. New Owner

If ownership is transferred by deed, the Assessor’s Office will still need a copy of the title in the new owner’s name unless a copy of the title is already attached to the deed.

Mobile Home Licensing/Decal

A mobile home permit, issued by the county Building & Codes department, shall only be valid until title to the mobile home is transferred to a new owner, or until the mobile home is relocated. The permit shall be evidenced by affixing an Abbeville County mobile home decal on the mobile home so as to be clearly and readily visible from the outside. The fee for a mobile home permit shall be five dollars, collected by Building & Codes.

In cases when the mobile home changes ownership, yet stays in the same location, the new owner is required to license the mobile home with Building & Codes and get a new decal. See SC Code of Laws Chapter 17, Mobile Homes and House Trailers, Article 3, Licensing of Mobile Homes.

Taxes Due When Ownership Changes or Moving Mobile Home

Any mobile home owner in Abbeville County who intends to move a mobile home within or out of the county, must get a Mobile Home Moving Permit, issued by the county Assessor’s office. If the mobile home is to be moved out of the county, taxes for the current year are to be paid. No landfill fee is charged if moved prior to July 1. If delinquent taxes are due, they too, must be paid before a moving permit will be issued. If a licensed mobile home dealer moves a mobile home to their sales lot (either through trade-in, repossession or other circumstances), the same guidelines apply to the dealer.

Penalty

Any person violating any of the provisions of the SC Code of Laws Title 31 Housing and Redevelopment Chapter 17, Mobile Homes and House Trailers, Article 3, Licensing of Mobile Homes, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than two hundred dollars.