Michigan's most experienced community association-Condo law firm
By Robert M. Meisner With many new Developers jumping into the condominium development craze, there may be a relapse to the abuses that took place in the late 70’s and early 80’s when certain national developers built large projects but cared little about the quality of the product and cared even less about properly funding…
The owner has not paid assessments in years. Perhaps the owner has a gambling problem and flushed all their money away at the casino. The only significant asset other than their residence is a car with a lien on title, which can’t be seized for a sheriff’s sale. The only income is social security, which…
By Robert M. Meisner Most judges in circuit court these days do whatever they can to see if a case can be resolved quickly and reasonably. To that end, the mediation-facilitation process is widely utilized to complete that task. Mediators are usually trained specifically to accomplish their responsibilities, but many times, there are persons who…
Instead of retaining experienced legal counsel, some community associations contract with a collection agency to pursue delinquent assessments without an understanding of the major differences between the two approaches. One purported benefit offered by collection agencies is a “no upfront fees” approach where fees and costs are deferred and only added to the delinquent account…
“Effective immediately, site condominiums in the state of Michigan will be processed in the same manner as a single family detached residence. VA will no longer review legal documentation for site condominiums. Lenders will be responsible for ensuring that any site condominium proposed as collateral for a VA-guaranteed loan meet requirements for the state of…
We’re caught in a trap We can’t reach quorum Because it’s two-thirds, baby Why can’t you see What you’re doing to me When you don’t give me your proxy? – Elvis President It’s a common problem for just about every board of directors – voter apathy and lack of trust will cause association members to…
Unfortunately, we have witnessed a recent spate of fires that have occurred in various condominiums throughout Michigan. This has reminded us, and the associations that we represent, how important it is to have appropriate provisions in the condominium bylaws requiring co-owners to insure their units, and to enforce those provisions consistently. Some co-owners mistakenly assume…
We recently wrote about some homeowners who plainly violated the restrictive covenants in their association’s governing documents when they painted their home blue without submitting an application for approval. Another case involving a blue house from Nebraska recently caught our attention, Estates at Prairie Ridge Homeowners Association v. Korth, 904 N.W.2d 15 (Neb. 2017). However,…
The Michigan Court of Appeals has published a 2-1 split decision, Eager v. Peasley, Mich App N.W.2d, 2017 WL 5907310, confirming that short-term rentals (generally understood to be for a term less than one month) constitute violations of “commercial use” prohibitions in deed restrictions. Previously, there were unpublished decisions to this effect, but a published…
We have previously written about Michigan HB 4446, advocating for removal of the exemption for developers in the bill, or in the alternative, abandoning it. Now, a new Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling in Trustees of the Cambridge Point Condominium Trust vs. Cambridge Point, LLC has been published, where the court found an anti-litigation provision in the…