Michigan HOA Laws

For Charles H9,

You made a cryptic remark about what to do if your State Law does not address HOA's.

It bothered me a bit that a state like Michigan would be able to cut themselves off from such a large segment of the population and it should have bothered you, if that is where your remark was directed. I looked around a little and found references to Michigan Statute that deal with HOAs and never left this main screen I am writing this on. To the left of this screen there are several links that provide extensive information about all kinds of associations concerns. One is the CAN site, they have many links to all the different states. Top of this page is a search feature, suggest you use it. I googled Michigan HOA Laws and found a bunch of links. Looked around for a few minutes and I will paste a clip here for any Michigan passer byers.

Senator Mikey Switalski tells Lori Samples to report HOA corruption to the Attorney General (If you looked at my reply, that was my first suggestion.)

- Recently I wrote to my State Rep. and Senator about the problems we Association members suffer. This is the reply I got from my State Senator. Oh yes, I have already written him back on this! - Lori Samples 2003 - Lansing, Michigan

Thank your for your recent correspondence, which raises several issues regarding condominium associations.

As you may know, the rules regarding condominium associations are largely based upon the contract among the co-owners, and it is therefore crucial for anyone who is considering the purchase of a condominium to closely review all the documents relating to the association prior to the purchase of a condo.

With regard to your comments concerning the alleged misuse of funds, there are certain State laws regarding the oversight of associations, which provide a remedy for co-owners with concerns about their association. For example, State law requires that capital repair and reserve funds be maintained for the benefit of the condominium co-owners for the maintenance of the common elements.

The law also provides that a local prosecutor and/or the Attorney General can bring charges to stop a violation of the condominium law. If you believe that the law has been violated by a board member who improperly takes from these funds, or if you believe that repair and reserve funds are not being used properly, I urge you to contact one of those officials with that information. The Condominium Act also provides that a co-owner may sue the association privately to enforce the terms of the agreement.

With regard to the lien issue; the law currently provides many ways in which a lien can be placed on someone's personal or real property (for example, a repair person or mechanic can place a lien on a home, automobile, or boat; similarly, a creditor may seize goods for non-payment). Often, consumers are not aware of such lien rights because they pay the bills and the issues do not arise.

Liens placed by associations are similar to these liens, in that the co-owner agreed to the association's right to a lien when he/she joined the association. Although there are no current bills to address this issue, should lien legislation be introduced, I will certainly keep your comments and experiences in mind as the Senate considers it.

I do hope that you will consider bringing some of the serious allegations regarding corruption to the local prosecutor or the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General for their consideration. Again, thank you for writing, and please do not hesitate to contact me with any future concerns.

Click here to go to Michigan State Senate Website

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As you can read, this Senators response starts off with Condominiums and then sort of opens these restrictions up to all associations. That's my read. In any event there is plenty of state info about association and it would serve you well to check them out. Especially the remark in the letter about the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney Generals Office. SC has a Consumer Affairs Office that looks to be the Agency for oversite of some extensive legislation on HOA's in SC.

Michigan probably need legislation that extends the enforcement authority of the Attorney General to HOAs. Maryland also had condos covered but not HOAs but passed a law in 2007 extending the authority of the Attorney General's office to HOAs.
http://mlis.state.md.us/2007rs/billfile/HB0183.htm

Michigan does have a condo act:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-59-of-1978.pdf

HOA's in Michigan fall under the Land Sales Act, which essentially is the underpinning that allows HOA's and POA's to be created. Beyond that little is said. The only other law governing is the Non-Profit Corporations Act. Pretty much everything else is left to the governing documents (CC&R's). The Condo Act does not cover HOA's/POA's.

The best info can be found at:

http://swagman.typepad.com/poa_governance/

Although a bit confusing in finding your way around, Don covers most of the areas. He's also a periodic poster here.

Joe

Jeanne,
Looks like our work is done. We tried!

Joseph West is too modest. He has the most complete information on the states at Community Associations Network. Click on state info in the left column and select the state of interest.

As he indicates, please provide him up to date information which he quickly posts.

Thanks for the service, Joe.

For the Michigan folks, I have posted the applicable Michigan legislation at Michigan POAs & Legislation.

The Michigan Legislative Service Bureau has drafted legislation on CIDs/POAs but further work remains to be done by citizens interested in the legislation before seeking assignment to a committee.  We need a large citizens group to be effective with the legislature. Please contact me if you are interested in participating. Use the "Email Me" at the top left of the Michigan POAs and Legislation post.

Don,

Regarding the ALJ in AZ, the Superior Court has ruled this to be unconstitutional (state constitution)! What's interesting is that the AG submitted a brief on behalf of the plaintiff which the court disagreed with. Last I heard an appeal will not be made.

Don,

I think it's great that the MD AG thinks this way. HOA advocates in AZ would be dancing in the streets if our AG felt the same way.

With regard to the OAH and HOA disputes. . .

I was a part of the group that wrote the bill which evolved into the current statute. We had determined that the Office of Administrative Hearings would be the best source of providing adjudication. However, they only provide services to state agencies. Therefore, HOAs were placed under the Dept. of Fire, Building & Life Safety, but "only" for dispute resolution. In the case that was appealed to Superior Court, the assn claimed that DFBLS does not regulate HOAs, therefore, placing HOAs under them for dispute resolution is a violation of the AZ state constitution. The AG filed a brief defending the constitutionality, but the judge didn't buy it. That's it, in a nutshell. I think the case was Waugaman v Troon Village.

I've heard there will not be an appeal. I've also heard the OAH is still accepting and hearing disputes. Of course, any member who prevails may be faced with an appeal on the same grounds as the above mentioned case.

Mary,
In retrospect, got any thought what you might have done if you had it to do over?

Do you think MD idea was good or how about this effort to place this under Consummer Affairs? I know you said AZ would be dancing in the streets but would the AG office agree.

Or is it better to hear disputes only at the office of the adjudicating department. Should there be a Ombudsman Office to just hear disputes?

Thank you all for posts on this subject.

Your local and state laws are only as good as the local authorities are willing to enforce them. At our Association we have tried to be as prudent and respectful as possible to local government. Explaining our Charter Documents along with local ordinance and State laws, yet when you have local authorities who are confused or just plain ignorant, of the importance of your HOA's rules and private property rights, you have to pursue your HOA rights and obligations on your own.

The costs and continued obligation to the current members, makes one wonder why there are not more ways within the state and county to resolve matters within a respectful enviroment without exceedingly costly manners.

Our HOA is now going to County government to force the hand of local officials to abide by theie own ordinances and enforce our HOA rights and responsibilities. What is required should not be fighting with the local authority to get a handful of non-members to comply with laws they knew they violated.

Thank you for the posts, wonder how many others in Michigan, wish we had more than the non-profit act to look back on along with our Charters for some help?

Michelle D.

My comments are to the arena of local ordinaces and laws NOT being enforced, that type of behavior makes it costly for the HOA to pursue these individuals who flaunt their abuses and violations to others (members and non-members) in the community as the HOA has no right to tell or expect you to stay off their private property or abide by the rules and regulations of the Charter Documents rules or the laws of the state and municipality.

An issue for our HOA,is that if local law enforcement would not consider our BoD having a civil dispute (between members and non-members)and not wanting to be a party to either side, then the police do not as I said, enforce our (HOA) privste property rights and remove the non-member. We (HOA) are faced with lotowners who are not paying dues able to use HOA property without the penalty of being removed as NON-MEMBERS, who will pay, if there is no enforcement of our rights?

I hope this explains my post further. Understanding that the members bear the burden of the cost of upkeep, insurance, taxes, and liability for this property.