The 2025 Marketable Record Title Act Amendment:
A Guide for Michigan Condos and HOAs

 

Introduction: What is the Marketable Record Title Act?

Michigan’s Marketable Record Title Act, MCL 565.101, et seq. (the “MRTA”), has gone through many changes in the last few years. The MRTA, which was initially passed in 1945, is a “title-cleanup” statute that eliminates claims and restrictions that exceed 40 years within a chain of title, unless they were properly recorded and preserved. A chain of title is the paper trail in the county records that shows who owned the property when and what rights or restrictions were added along the way. The MRTA was amended in 2018, 2022, and 2024, but the 2018 amendment was arguably the most impactful. This amendment required restrictive covenants to be identified specifically by their exact recording information (liber and page number) within a property’s 40-year chain of title; otherwise, those restrictions would be extinguished and no longer apply to the property. Thus, this was a marked shift in the real estate industry and practice, threatening the validity of an unknown number of HOA deed restrictions across the state.

The Michigan legislature recently amended the Marketable Record Title Act again to address a number of concerns raised by the 2018 and 2022 amendments, providing a “safe haven” for all condo associations and some HOAs. We will first discuss the 2025 amendment to the MRTA and then explain whether your HOA falls under this new “safe haven” or if you should record a required MRTA notice on or before September 29, 2027 in order to preserve your restrictions.

 

The 2025 Amendment to the MRTA

The 2025 amendment included at least three critical changes that condo associations and HOAs should be aware of: (1) express protections for condos and certain HOAs; (2) updated requirements for the MRTAs mandated “notice of claim”; and (3) extension of the deadline to record MRTA notices of claim.

 

1. Express protections for all condo associations and certain HOAs.

Prior to this recent amendment, the Marketable Record Title Act did not outright address whether it applied to the restrictions recorded within master deeds for condominiums or other restrictive covenants that may be enforced by an HOA. The MRTA now, however, states the following:

 

This act must not be applied to do any of the following:

(g) Bar or extinguish any interest created by any declaration or other instrument or agreement executed and recorded on or after January 1, 1950, as the declaration or other instrument or agreement may be amended, that subjects the land to any use or other restriction or obligation, burden, or benefit with respect to each lot or other parcel of land that is the subject of the declaration or other instrument or agreement.

(h) Bar or extinguish any interest created by a recorded master deed for a condominium or any recorded amendments to a recorded master deed for a condominium.

See MCL 565.104(1)(g)-(h).

 

This means that condo associations, particularly those 40 years old or older, no longer need to question if they should file an MRTA notice of claim to preserve the restrictions in their condominium documents. This also means that certain HOAs, those whose initial restrictions were executed and recorded on or after January 1, 1950, will no longer need to scramble to prepare and record a notice of claim to ensure their deed restrictions will not be extinguished after September 29, 2027. While many HOAs will benefit from MCL 565.104(1)(g)’s exclusion, a number of older HOAs and communities are still exposed and will need to record a notice of claim before September 29, 2027 to protect their restrictions. This may include summer resort associations and older subdivision associations that were created before January 1, 1950.

An important caveat to the Marketable Record Title Act to note, however, are deed restrictions that have already expired on their own terms, such as those stating they will only be in effect until a certain date or a certain number of years. MCL 565.103(1) states that “an interest, claim, or charge . . . that expires or terminates based on its own terms is not effective and is not preserved by recording a notice of claim under this subsection.” Consequently, HOAs cannot attempt to use MCL 565.104(1)(g)’s exclusion to resurrect expired deed restrictions.

 

3. Updated requirements for MRTA notices of claim.

Prior to this amendment, it was unclear if at-risk condo associations or HOAs could file an MRTA notice of claim to preserve their restrictions and, if so, the appropriate method for doing so. Many were left wondering whether simply identifying the legal description of the entire property affected by the restrictions was sufficient, or if they would need to identify every record owner and lot in the claim as well. There were also questions regarding what impact a recorded notice of claim by one individual may have on all other property owners affected by the restrictions. For example, if one individual in an HOA recorded a notice to preserve the community’s deed restrictions, was that sufficient to preserve the deed restrictions for all the other properties in the HOA, even those who may not have wanted to extend the restrictions? The 2025 amendment responded to these questions.

 

MCL 565.103(4) states that “a notice” may be recorded by, in relevant part, “(c) [a] property owners’ association.”

MCL 565.101a(d) defines a “[p]roperty owners’ association” as “any of the following: . . .

(i) A person or an unincorporated association with a voting membership that is made up of owners of land or the owners’ agents, or a combination of the owners of land and the owners’ agents, that is either of the following:

(A) Responsible for the operation or management of land.

(B) Authorized to enforce a document recorded with the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the land is located that subjects the land to any use or other restriction or obligation.

(ii) An association of co-owners as that term is defined in section 3 of the condominium act, 1978 PA 59, MCL 559.103.”

 

In other words, a homeowners association or a condominium association qualifies as a “property owners’ association” and may record the Marketable Record Title Act notice itself to preserve the entire community’s recorded restrictions for all lots or units subject to them, rather than requiring each individual owner to file their own notices.

 

MCL 565.103(5) also states that “[t]he recording of a notice of claim under this section by a claimant that meets all the requirements of this act to preserve the claimant’s rights in the land is an effective notice under this section for all other persons whose rights originate from the same instrument as the claimant’s.”

Regarding the form of a notice of claim, MCL 565.105(1) now states the following:

 

To be effective and to be entitled to record, a notice of claim under section 3 must contain an accurate and full description of all the land affected by the notice and the description must be set forth in particular terms and not by general inclusions. The notice of claim must contain all of the following:

(a) The claimant’s name.

(b) The claimant’s mailing address.

(c) The interest claimed to be preserved.

(d) Except as to mineral interests, the liber and page or other unique identification number assigned by the office of the register of deeds for the recorded instrument creating the interest to be preserved.

(e) The legal description of the land affected by the claimed interest.

(f) The claimant’s signature.

(g) An acknowledgment in the form required by the Michigan law on notarial acts, 2003 PA 238, MCL 55.261 to 55.315.

(h) The drafter’s name and address.

(i) An address to which the document can be returned.

(j) The name and mailing address of all the owners of the land that is claimed to be affected by the notice of claim. For purposes of this subdivision, the names and mailing addresses of persons in whose names the land is assessed on the last completed tax assessment roll of the county in which the land is located at the time of recording are the owners of the land.

 

Essentially, by recording one compliant MRTA notice, an association can preserve the community’s restrictions for every lot tied to the same document. The MRTA notice must describe the land and include the legal description of the land affected (i.e., the subdivision), include the association’s name and address, the interest preserved (such as the declaration or the restrictive covenants), the recording information of the restrictions being preserved, a signed and notarized signature, the drafter and return address, and the names and mailing addresses of all owners from the latest tax roll.

 

Lastly, MCL 565.105(2) provides a template form that may be used and is deemed “sufficient to record a notice of claim under section 3 . . . .”:

 

NOTICE

Claimant: _________________________________________________________ Whose address is __________________________________________________ hereby claims the following described interest: ___________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________which was originally created by _____________________, recorded in liber _________, on page _________, _________ county records, and affects land located in the _________________ of _________________, County of _________________, state of Michigan, and more fully described as: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Commonly known as:___________________________

Tax Item No. ________________________________

The owner(s) of land affected by this notice, for purposes of MCL 565.105(1)(j), is/are: __________________________________________________________________whose address(es) is/are:__________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________<<Claimant>>

 

STATE OF _________________)

__________________________) SS.

COUNTY OF ________________)

This instrument was acknowledged before me on ___20__, by <<Claimant>> _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________, Notary Public ___________________________________________________County, Michigan

My Commission expires:____________ Acting in ________ County, Michigan

Drafted by: ____________________________________________ Return to: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

3. Extended deadline to September 29, 2027.

For those HOAs that are not protected by MCL 565.104(1)(g)’s exclusion, MCL 565.101 and MCL 565.103(1) extend the deadline to record a notice of claim to September 29, 2027.

 

Do You Need to Record a Notice of Claim Under the Marketable Record Title Act?

Whether or not you need to record an MRTA notice of claim before September 29, 2027 will depend on a number of factors, including the following:

• Are you a condo or HOA?
  • If you are a CONDO, you do not need to record a notice of claim. MCL 565.104(1)(h) exempts restrictions in recorded master deeds from being extinguished by the Marketable Record Title Act.
  • If you are an HOA, you may need to record a notice of claim. Continue to the next question.
• Were your original recorded documents (i.e., declaration, agreement, or other recorded documents containing restrictions) executed and recorded on or after January 1, 1950?
  • If YES, you do not need to record a notice of claim. MCL 565.104(1)(g) exempts restrictions in declarations, agreements, or other instruments that were initially executed and recorded on or after January 1, 1950 and any of their subsequent amendments. Note that the originating document must have been executed and recorded on or after January 1, 1950. This provision is not looking for amendments that were recorded on or after January 1, 1950 as the starting point.
  • If NO, and if you haven’t recorded a notice of claim since March 28, 2019, then you may need to record a notice before September 29, 2027. If you’re unsure whether your HOA needs to record a notice of claim, contact our Michigan community association attorneys We can review your documents and ensure your restrictions remain enforceable.