Commercial Use Prohibitions Mean No Short-Term Renting

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 Previously, there were unpublished decisions to this effect, but a published…

Priority Amendments to Governing Documents

Many Michigan condominium and homeowner association directors want to know how their governing documents might be improved. In our experience, it’s highly likely that just about any community association’s governing documents would benefit from full amendment and restatement. This holds true even for newer developments because developers that draft the governing documents have little incentive…

New Michigan Law Confirms Landlords May Ban Medical Marijuana Smoking

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has signed SB 72 into law, which should be effective on or about April 10, 2017, codifying part of a 2011 opinion by the State Attorney General. SB 72 has added the following (bold text) to the state statute created by the previous voter-initiated legislation on medical marijuana: “Nothing in this act…

Appeals Court Interprets “Residential Use” to Exclude Transient Leasing

An interesting case was recently decided by a Texas Court of Appeals in the matter of Tarr v. Timberwood Park Owners Association, Inc., No. 04-16-00022-CV (Tex. App. Nov. 16, 2016). Timberwood Park’s governing documents stated that the homes in the subdivision were to be used exclusively for residential purposes but did not contain any specific prohibition…

The Top 3 Roadblocks Preventing Your Condominium Association From Obtaining FHA Certification

*This article may not reflect current changes being made by FHA which are in the process of being finalized by FHA at this time. Contact us to confirm current requirements. An FHA loan allows a buyer to purchase a condominium with a smaller down payment, and in some instances, at lower interest rates.  A purchaser can…