Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 80-11-1-.03 - Place of Business Requirements; Definitions
(1)
Each licensee with a physical place of business in Georgia shall provide to the
Department a complete listing of all such offices or locations.
(2) Reserved.
(3) A "physical place of business" in this
state shall mean an enclosed room or building where a licensee alone, if it has
no employees, otherwise where one or more supervised employees conduct a
residential mortgage business.
(4)
A location, including a personal residence, shall be considered a branch for
purposes of the Georgia Residential Mortgage Act if any of the following
conditions are met:
(a) The location address
is printed on or contained in letterheads, business cards, announcements,
advertisements, solicitations for business, flyers, brochures, or the
like;
(b) Georgia consumers are
received at the location or are directed to deliver any information by any
means to the location;
(c) Loan
files, applications (approved, denied, pending and pre-qualification) and any
other books and records required by Georgia Residential Mortgage Act or
Department rules are located at the location;
(d) The licensee directly or indirectly
reimburses for rent, utility bills or other expenses incurred for use of a
location as a branch; or
(e) An
independent contractor of a licensed mortgage broker operates from the location
and all of the conditions for the exemption contained in O.C.G.A. §
7-1-1001(a)(17)
are satisfied.
(5)
Notwithstanding Paragraph (4) of this rule, a location, including a personal
residence, will not be deemed a branch and will be required to have its own
license if:
(a) It is a franchise
arrangement;
(b) It is separate
entity that may be referred to as a "net branch," and it is an independent
business or mortgage operation which is not under the direct control,
management, supervision and responsibility of the licensee;
(c) The licensee is not the lessee or owner
of the branch and the branch is not under the direct and daily ownership,
control, management, and supervision of the licensee;
(d) All employees exempt from individual
licensing, including the branch manager, do not meet the requirements for such
exemption in Article 13 and the rules of the Department;
(e) All assets and liabilities of the branch
are not assets and liabilities of the licensee and income and expenses of the
branch are not income and expenses of the licensee and are not properly
accounted for in the financial records and tax returns of the licensee;
or
(f) All practices, policies, and
procedures, including but not limited to those relating to employment and
operations, are not originated and established by the licensee and are not
applied consistently to the main office and all branches.
(6) An unstaffed storage facility shall not
constitute a branch.
(7) The "main
office" is the location indicated on the application as the principal place of
business, where the books and records are kept.
(8) The mailing address of a licensee may be
different from the main office address but shall be the address where the
Department is authorized to send all correspondence, official notices and
orders. The licensee is responsible for keeping the Department informed of any
changes in this mailing address.
(9) The "contact person for consumer
complaints" referred to in O.C.G.A. §
7-1-1006 shall be a person who is
available and has authority to investigate and resolve questions and complaints
from consumers which have come to the Department for resolution. Each licensee
must keep the Department informed of the name and telephone number of the
current contact person.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.