“Permanent Foundation” May Not Mean What You Think: Understanding California 433A

If you are buying or selling a manufactured home in California, sooner or later someone may ask whether the property has a "433A" or, less directly, whether the home is on a “permanent foundation.” Unfortunately, the term "permanent foundation" is often used loosely and can create confusion. How a manufactured home is physically installed and anchored to its foundation is one subject. Whether it has been installed and documented under the 433A process—and therefore treated as a fixture or improvement to the real property—is another completely separate subject.

What Is a 433A?

Form HCD 433A, issued by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), is formally called the Notice of Manufactured Home, Mobilehome, or Commercial Modular Installation on a Foundation System. It is used when a manufactured home is installed on an approved foundation system as a fixture or improvement to the underlying real property under California Health and Safety Code §18551(a).

The installation is permitted and inspected by the appropriate enforcement agency. After approval and issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, the 433A is recorded with the county recorder. The recorded document provides legal notice that the manufactured home has become a fixture or improvement to the real property, rather than remaining separately titled personal property. HCD's title record is then changed accordingly.

These distinctions can be important to lenders, title companies, appraisers, buyers, sellers, and taxing authorities.

Does Every California Manufactured Home Need a 433A?

No. California law allows manufactured homes to exist as personal property as well as real property. Many manufactured homes have been legally installed for decades while remaining separately titled through HCD.

The absence of a recorded 433A does not, by itself, mean that the home was improperly installed or that there is something physically wrong with its foundation. A 433A is used when the manufactured home is installed on an approved foundation system as a fixture or improvement to the underlying real property under California Health and Safety Code §18551(a).

California law even recognizes that a manufactured home can be installed on a foundation system while remaining chattel, or personal property. That is an important distinction: being attached to a foundation and being legally part of the real estate are not the same thing.

The Confusing Term: “Permanent Foundation”

Much of the confusion comes from the phrase "permanent foundation." In ordinary construction terminology, most people hear “permanent foundation” and imagine a traditional poured-concrete or masonry perimeter foundation similar to the foundation beneath a site-built house. In manufactured-housing, real-estate, and lending discussions, however, the term is also commonly used to describe the home's legal status.

California HCD itself uses “permanent foundation” in some contexts to describe a manufactured home installed on a foundation system as a fixture or improvement to the underlying real property, inspected and approved by the building official, with the 433A recorded. This is where much of the confusion originates. In construction and inspection terminology, “permanent foundation” may describe a physical foundation configuration. In California real-estate and lending terminology, the same words may instead refer to the home's legal status.

Standard Set Versus Permanent Set

For inspection purposes, manufactured-home installations are commonly described nationally using two broad physical configuration types:

1. Standard Set. A Standard Set manufactured home is typically supported beneath its structural frame by piers. These may include concrete masonry piers, manufactured metal supports, or other approved components. Footings or pads transfer the loads to the soil. The manufactured home also requires an anchoring or bracing system to resist forces such as wind and earthquakes.

Because the piers and underside of the manufactured home would otherwise remain exposed, a nonstructural enclosure or skirting is commonly installed around the perimeter. Skirting may be constructed from numerous materials, including manufactured panels, metal, masonry, wood products, or other materials.

The important point is that the skirting normally is not the foundation. The manufactured home's structural loads are generally being carried by the piers and supporting system behind it.

2. Permanent Set. With what inspectors commonly describe as a Permanent Set, the manufactured home is installed over a foundation more closely resembling that of a conventional site-built house. There may be a poured-concrete or reinforced-masonry perimeter foundation supported by concrete footings, creating a conventional crawlspace or sometimes a basement.

Interior supports or piers are still commonly necessary because manufactured homes are generally designed to carry substantial loads through their steel chassis or other designated structural support locations. The home is then structurally connected or anchored to the foundation system. Because the perimeter foundation itself encloses the crawlspace, separate decorative skirting is generally unnecessary.

What About the Hitch, Axles and Wheels?

Another common misconception is that a manufactured home becomes real estate once the wheels, axles, or towing equipment have been removed. It isn't that simple.

Manufactured homes are designed and built for transportation to their installation site. Removing transportation components may be part of an installation, but the presence or absence of those components does not, by itself, establish whether the home is legally personal property or real estate.

Likewise, seeing an old hitch beneath a manufactured home does not establish that there is no 433A. The presence or absence of transportation components does not determine the home's legal property status; that status must be established from the appropriate records.

Can a Home Inspector Determine Whether a Manufactured Home Has a 433A?

No. A home inspector can inspect the visible physical condition of the manufactured home's foundation and support system. Depending upon accessibility and the scope of the inspection, that can include observations involving:

• piers and supports;
• foundation walls and footings;
• anchoring or bracing components;
• visible deterioration or damage;
• improper or displaced supports;
• crawlspace conditions; and
• other visible structural concerns.

What a visual home inspection generally cannot establish is whether the installation was properly engineered, whether every component conforms to the original approved foundation design, whether all required permits received final approval, or whether a 433A was recorded. Those are documentation questions.

A manufactured home's legal status should normally be confirmed through sources such as the county recorder, HCD records, title company, lender, and applicable local building department.

Why Does a 433A Matter When Buying a Manufactured Home?

The issue frequently arises because of financing. A lender may require documentation establishing that a manufactured home is legally attached to the underlying real property before it will make a particular type of real-estate loan. That is why buyers often first hear about a “433A” from a lender, appraiser, real-estate agent, or title company rather than from a home inspector.

A lender may require a recorded 433A before financing a manufactured home as real estate. That does not mean every manufactured home in California is required to have one. Many manufactured homes remain legally titled as personal property.

For a buyer, the practical question is whether the home's current title and foundation status satisfy the requirements of the proposed loan and transaction.

Three Important Questions That Should Be Kept Separate

When evaluating a California manufactured home, it helps to ask three different questions:

1. Is the foundation and support system physically performing adequately? That is primarily an inspection and structural-condition question.
2. Was the manufactured home installed using an approved foundation system and were the appropriate permits and approvals obtained? That is primarily a permitting and engineering documentation question.
3. Has a 433A been recorded so that the manufactured home is legally a fixture or improvement to the underlying real estate? That is primarily a title and public-records question.

The answers to those questions may be related, but they are not interchangeable.

The Bottom Line

​Don’t be confused by the terminology. The key points are:

• A California manufactured home does not automatically require a 433A.
• The 433A, if filed with the county recorder, documents a specific legal process in which a manufactured home installed on an approved foundation system becomes a fixture or improvement to the underlying real property.
• It should not be assumed that “permanent foundation” means the manufactured home must be sitting on a traditional concrete perimeter foundation.
• You generally cannot determine whether a manufactured home has a 433A simply by looking underneath it.
• The physical foundation should be evaluated for its visible condition, while legal status, permitting, title, and financing requirements should be verified through the appropriate records and professionals.

Understanding these differences can eliminate a great deal of unnecessary confusion when buying or selling a manufactured home in California.