Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 46

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 7, TITLE 18, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO INVESTMENTS OF FUNDS BY DOMESTIC INSURANCE COMPANIES SECURED BY MORTGAGES OR DEEDS OF TRUST.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:

Section 1. Sub-paragraph (5), Section 706, Title 18, Delaware Code, is amended to read as follows:

(5) In bonds or notes secured by mortgages or deeds of trust of unencumbered real estate or perpetual leases thereon in the United States or Dominion of Canada; but no such mortgage loan or loans on any one property shall, at the time of investment, exceed two-thirds of the fair market value of the property, except that if the property is primarily improved by a single-family residence the mortgage loan may be made in an amount not exceeding three-fourths of the fair market value of the property. Where improvement on the land constitute a part of the value on which the loan is made, the improvements shall be insured against fire for the benefit of the mortgagee in an amount not less than the difference between two-thirds of the value of the land and the amount of the loan. For the purposes of this section real estate shall not be deemed to be encumbered by reason of the existence of taxes or assessments that are not delinquent, instruments creating or reserving mineral, oil or timber rights, rights of way, joint driveways, sewer rights, rights in walls, nor by reason of building restrictions, or other restrictive covenants, nor when such real estate is subject to lease in whole or in part whereby rents or profits are reserved to the owner.

The amount loaned on the security of mortgages or deeds of trust of unencumbered real estate in the United States may exceed the maximum limit fixed by this section or any other provision of the law of Delaware to the extent that such loans shall be guaranteed by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs pursuant to the provisions of Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 as amended.

Approved May 21, 1959.