A community bank in Tennessee has submitted a request to the Appraisal Subcommittee seeking a one-year waiver from appraisal regulation requirements to use a certified appraiser, the Appraisal Institute learned Nov. 29. If the waiver is approved, it would apply to all institutions, not just the requesting organization.
The party making the request must provide clear evidence of a shortage of appraisers, among other things, and demonstrate that the shortage is leading to significant delays in the performance of an appraisal.
TriStar Bank sought the waiver Nov. 20, stating in its letter, “The demand [for valuation services] is so great in the Nashville MSA that we are having a difficult time receiving appraisals in a reasonable amount of time. The time delay and added cost is negatively impacting our clients.”
The request is thought to be the first one submitted to the ASC by a regulated institution since the early 1990s as Title XI of FIRREA was being implemented. A single temporary waiver was granted at the time, but it traditionally was thought to relate to the FIRREA implementation period — until earlier this year when it was identified during a review of the Economic Growth and Regulatory Reduction Act.
FIRREA permits the ASC to grant temporary waivers from “any requirement relating to certification or licensing of a person to perform appraisals.” However, the TriStar request appears to be requesting a one-year wavier from FIRREA’s requirement to obtain written appraisals that comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, something that is not within the purview of the ASC to consider.
The ASC is expected to decide whether to “receive” TriStar’s request potentially as early as this month, which would trigger a 30-day comment period in the Federal Register. Within 45 calendar days of the date of the publication of the notice or initiation order in the Federal Register, the ASC must either grant or deny the waiver in whole or in part, and upon specified terms and conditions, including provisions for waiver termination, under ASC regulations.
Read about ASC’s appraisal waiver process.