SPRING HILL HOA COVENENTS FULL
SPRING HILL HOA COVENENTS TRIAL

In construing restrictive covenants, the overriding goal is to ascertain the intent of the parties. The Court of Appeals stated that in Eager, this Court set forth the following principles to interpret restrictive covenants: In interpreting the restrictive covenants, the Court of Appeals started by providing a general overview of prior court cases related to short-term rentals. Overview of Michigan Short-Term Rental Case Law If the homeowners association or lot owner found it necessary to file suit to enforce any covenant, the court “shall award the prevailing party its/his/her reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation.” The HOA’s restrictive covenants further provided that each lot owner was “bound by the obligations set forth in these covenants” and in the corporate bylaws for the homeowners association. No nuisance shall be conducted on any lot within the Premises, nor shall anything be done on said Premises which is or may become a nuisance.

SPRING HILL HOA COVENENTS FULL

A lot owner may lease his/her property to a third party, but he/she has full liability for any breach by the tenant of these covenants.Ĭ. * * * No business of any sort, other than home office activities, shall be conducted from or on any lot within the Premises, and no signage advertising any such business shall be placed on a lot.ī. Only one structure may be used as a dwelling on any such lot, except that additional living quarters, to be occupied only temporarily or seasonally, may be constructed over a garage. Each lot in the Premises shall be used only for a single-family private residence. The restrictive covenants for the homeowners association provided in pertinent part: The covenants commenced by noting that plaintiff previously imposed “restrictive covenants for the purpose of limiting the use thereof to desirable residential, recreational and other purposes.” The covenants contain the following provision governing use:Ī. Short-Term Rental Restrictions Contained in the Restrictive Covenants

SPRING HILL HOA COVENENTS TRIAL

360554), in which the court interpreted whether short-term rentals were permitted under restrictive covenants that allowed “leasing”, but did not permit a business use of a property and required all properties to be used as a “single family private residence.” While the trial court concluded that the short-term rentals were allowed under the leasing provision of the restrictive covenants, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed, and held that the restrictive covenants must be read as a whole, and that the business use and single-family private residence restrictions precluded short-term rentals. Recently, the Michigan Court of Appeals issued another opinion in Apache Hills Property Owners Association, Inc, v Sears Nichols Cottages, LLC, issued Decem(Docket No. 354841), that have interpreted whether or not short-term rentals are permitted, and have largely concluded that residential useand commercial use restrictions preclude short-term rentals. al., unpublished opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued Octo(Docket No. al., published opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued Novem(Docket No. In Michigan, there have been several court cases in recent years, such as John H Bauckham Trust v Matthew Petter, unpublished opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued Septem(Docket No. While HB 4722 would not have precluded the enforcement of short-term rental restrictions contained in restrictive covenants for homeowners associations, as restrictive covenants are private contracts, HOA’s have faced similar short-term rental enforcement issues in recent years. However, it is possible that similar legislation will be proposed in the 2023-2024 legislative session.

HB 4722 passed the Michigan House of Representatives, but was not passed by the Michigan Senate, so it did not become law. HB 4722 would have prevented municipalities from enforcing zoning ordinances that prohibited short-term rentals, aside from regulating nuisances created by short-term rental properties. HB 4722 (2021), proposed to amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to indicate that short-term rentals constituted a residential use, as opposed to a commercial use of property, for zoning purposes. However, HB 4722 was the only short-term rental legislation that gained any traction. During the 2021-2022 legislative session, numerous short-term rental bills, specifically HB 4722, HB 4985, HB 5465, HB 5466, HB 5605, SB 446, and SB 547, were introduced in the Michigan legislature that attempted to define short-term rentals for zoning purposes, prohibit municipalities from completely banning short term-rentals, or regulate the ability of property owners to engage in short-term rentals in some fashion. HOA short-term rental restrictions continue to remain a hot button issue for municipalities, property owners, and homeowners associations in Michigan.

in the short-term rental case in this article. Kayleigh Long of Hirzel Law, PLC represented the Apache Hills Property Owners Association, Inc.

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