A recent bill now provides mobile homeowners a new opportunity to conclusively establish their mobile home as a fixture on a property, meaning a clear path to definitive homeownership.
Enacted on March 15, 2022 and effective June 13, 2022, PA 33 of 2022 seeks to solve a long-standing problem facing the owners of mobile homes that have been physically attached to a piece of land. Under The Mobile Home Commission Act (MCL §125.2301 et. seq.) a mobile home is not considered to be a fixture on real estate until an Affidavit of Affixture has been recorded with Register of Deeds office for the county in which the mobile home and real property are located. Obtaining a recordable Affidavit of Affixture has historically proved to be an onerous challenge to the owners of real property upon which there is a mobile home.
One significant burden was that the original affidavit of title for the mobile home had to be produced and provided to the State of Michigan before an Affidavit of Affixture could be finalized. Original certificates of title for older mobile homes were often lost or misplaced. When an original certificate of title could be produced, the existence of lienholders on that certificate of title or the improper endorsement of the certificate of title from one landowner to the next could prevent the completion of the Affidavit of Affixture. Although The Mobile Home Commission Act provided avenues to address these problems, the solutions present create additional expense and delay for anyone looking to transact in real property upon which a mobile home is located.
Enter PA 33 of 2022 which adds to The Mobile Home Commission Act a new opportunity to conclusively establish a mobile home as a fixture upon real property. A newly created statutory section (MCL §125.2330k) provides for the issuance of an Affidavit of Affixture in situations where the mobile home certificate of title either cannot be produced or is deficient in some way. This new section provides that 15 years following the physical attachment of the mobile home to the real property, an affidavit could be used to establish facts sufficient to induce the State of Michigan to approve an Affidavit of Affixture. An Affidavit of Affixture approved under this new section not only establishes the mobile home as a fixture on the real property but would additionally terminate the interest of any lienholder or predecessor in title to the mobile home.
While much remains to be seen about the use of this new section in practice, the framework provided is encouraging.