Property Ownership, Interests and Legal Descriptions
Property Ownership
Real property versus personal property
Land, improvements, and the bundle of rights are real property; movable items are personal property. A fixture is personal property that has become real property by annexation, adaptation to the use of the property, and the intention of the parties. Michigan questions usually hinge on intention as shown by the facts - a built-in dishwasher is a fixture, a freestanding refrigerator is generally not unless the contract says so.
Estates and forms of ownership
Fee simple absolute is the most complete estate. Lesser estates include life estates and leaseholds. Co-ownership options are tenancy in common (no survivorship, unequal shares allowed), joint tenancy (requires unity of time, title, interest, and possession plus express survivorship language), and tenancy by the entirety (only for married couples, with a right of survivorship; one spouse cannot convey alone). Condominium ownership combines a unit with an undivided interest in common elements.
Michigan property tax - Proposal A
Assessed value is 50% of market value, and that figure also equals the state equalized value (SEV). Taxable value is the figure the millage rate is applied to, and it may rise each year by no more than the lesser of 5% or the inflation rate - until a transfer of ownership, which uncaps it and resets taxable value to SEV. The buyer's assessor receives a Property Transfer Affidavit within 45 days of the transfer.
Traps
Capping assessed value instead of taxable value; assuming a joint tenant can be severed by will (it cannot - the survivor takes); treating a life tenant as free to commit waste.
Worked example
Market value $300,000, SEV $150,000, taxable value $110,000. After a sale, taxable value resets to $150,000, so the tax bill rises even if market value never moves.
Interests and Legal Descriptions
Non-ownership interests
An easement is a right to use another's land. Appurtenant easements benefit a neighboring parcel and run with the land; easements in gross benefit a person or entity. Easements arise by express grant, implication, necessity, or prescription. Michigan's prescriptive period and the adverse possession period are both generally 15 years. A license is revocable permission, not an interest in land. Liens (mortgage, tax, construction) and deed restrictions also burden title without transferring ownership.
Descriptions that examiners use
Metes and bounds starts at a point of beginning, follows courses (bearings) and distances, and must close back on the point of beginning. Monuments control over distances and area when they conflict. Lot and block references a recorded plat: "Lot 7, Block 3, Oakridge Subdivision, per plat recorded in Liber 12, Page 45, Kent County Records." Public Land Survey System descriptions start big and narrow down:
- Township = 36 square miles, divided into 36 sections
- Section = 640 acres
- Quarter section = 160 acres
- Quarter-quarter section = 40 acres
Traps
Multiplying in the wrong order; forgetting "less the right of way" reservations; assuming a license binds a buyer (it does not); treating a description by street address or by neighbors' names as legally sufficient.
Worked example
The N 1/2 of the SW 1/4 of Section 14: the SW 1/4 is 160 acres, and one half of that is 80 acres. A further "NE 1/4 of the SE 1/4" of a section is 640 / 4 / 4 = 40 acres.