Michigan has a detailed, dedicated statute for condominiums — the Michigan Condominium Act — but no equivalent comprehensive law for non-condo homeowners associations (subdivisions and platted communities). Those run on their own recorded declaration and deed restrictions as binding covenants, plus the general Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act, since almost every HOA incorporates under it. That changed in one specific, real way in 2025: Michigan passed its first substantive-rights statute aimed at non-condo HOAs, covering solar panels and other energy improvements.
Fines: what your HOA can and can't charge
No Michigan statute caps fine amounts or requires a specific notice-and-hearing procedure for non-condo HOAs — that authority, and any due-process steps, come entirely from your recorded declaration and bylaws. If your documents promise written notice, a cure period, or a hearing before a fine, the HOA has to follow those steps or the fine is procedurally defective — but that's a contract claim you'd bring, not a state-law violation.
See our guide on how to fight an HOA fine for the general playbook.
Unpaid assessments, liens, and foreclosure
This is a sharp contrast with Michigan condo law: condominiums have an explicit statutory lien and foreclosure process; non-condo HOAs don't. A subdivision association's lien rights exist only if the recorded declaration grants them — if your documents don't, your options for collecting narrow considerably, and you're generally left suing on the covenant directly rather than foreclosing a statutory lien.
- No statutory notice requirement before a non-condo HOA lien or foreclosure — whatever process applies comes from the declaration, plus general Michigan judicial-foreclosure procedure if it goes to court.
- Interest and late fees: no HOA-specific cap; if the declaration sets an interest rate, Michigan's general usury law would bound it — up to 7% by written agreement, with anything over 25% considered criminal usury.
- Watch this if your community is older: a 2025 change to Michigan's Marketable Record Title Act means HOAs whose governing documents were recorded before January 1, 1950 need to file a notice of claim by September 29, 2027, or risk their covenants — and the assessment authority built on them — being extinguished. Communities recorded after 1950 are unaffected.
More on this in our guide to what happens if you don't pay HOA dues.
Meetings and quorum
Michigan's Nonprofit Corporation Act fills the gap here since there's no HOA-specific meeting statute. The clearest hard rule in Michigan law governs the board, not the membership: a board quorum defaults to a majority of directors then in office, and bylaws can't set it lower than one-third of the board. Notice and quorum for member (homeowner) meetings are left largely to your association's own bylaws.
Board elections
Also governed by general nonprofit corporate law rather than an HOA-specific statute. Michigan requires at least 3 directors; if bylaws are silent on election procedure, initial directors serve until the first annual meeting and then stand for election annually. Members can remove a director with or without cause by majority vote (unless the articles require cause), while a self-perpetuating board without a voting membership can only remove one of its own for cause. There's no statewide felony-conviction bar, delinquency-based ineligibility rule, or dedicated election-dispute agency for non-condo HOAs — disputes go to circuit court.
For the general mechanics, see how HOA board elections work.
Energy improvements: a real, recent right
Buying a home in a Michigan HOA
Michigan's standard seller disclosure form asks only a yes/no question: does an HOA exist with authority over the property? It does not require disclosure of dues amounts, delinquency status, special assessments, or pending litigation — you have to request the financial details and governing documents separately, and there's no Michigan statute requiring the association to hand them over on a set timeline the way some states mandate.
See our full buying checklist for homes in an HOA before you make an offer.
Need help with a Michigan HOA issue? Find an HOA attorney in Michigan, or find a management company in Michigan.