Animals & Pets

October 16, 2025

Can Michigan Condominium Associations Remove Aggressive Dogs?

Can a Michigan Condominium Association Remove an Aggressive Dog Without Notice? Disputes involving the enforcement of condominium deed restrictions and restrictive covenants can raise serious questions about the rights of individual condo unit owners (formally referred to as co-owners) and how restrictions within condominium governing documents should be interpreted and applied, especially when those restrictions are being used as a…
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March 18, 2025

Michigan Court Rules that Livestock, Unauthorized Fences, and Off-Road Vehicles Violated HOA’s Restrictive Covenants

Michigan Court Rules that Livestock, Unauthorized Fences, and Off-Road Vehicles Violated HOA’s Restrictive Covenants Disputes over whether exotic animals, such as chickens, can constitute pets under restrictive covenants are becoming increasingly common.  In Nemeth v DiGirolamo, unpublished opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued March 12, 2025 (Docket No. 366595), 2025 WL 796149, the Michigan Court of Appeals considered whether…
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March 17, 2023

Federal Court Permits Fair Housing Claim to Keep Six Emotional Support Chickens to Proceed to Trial

Has your condominium or homeowners association encountered a request for an emotional support animal under the Fair Housing Act?  If not, you are likely to encounter a request in the future as requests for emotional support animals in community associations have been on the rise in recent years.  HOAs and condo associations are subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act…
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September 16, 2022

Can Michigan Condominium Associations Ban Pets?

Most homeowners associations require that owners within the subdivision be members of the association.  While these types of homeowner associations are the norm, they are not the only type of homeowners associations in existence.  A voluntary homeowners association is just that, an HOA where membership is voluntary.  But as a voluntary homeowners association, some members may believe that the association’s…
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