Condo and HOA Lawyers
Serving Petoskey, MI

Start with a phone call or proposal request. We review your declaration and bylaws, talk through the issue, and recommend either a retainer or a one-matter engagement with a clear fee agreement. Your board then has direct access to its attorney by phone, email, or video with a 24-hour response commitment, which matters when board members are spread across the state in the off-season. Many Northern Michigan boards had never hired an attorney before working with us.

We handle most matters on an hourly basis, where we scope the specific issue and provide a clear fee agreement upfront so your board knows exactly what to expect. For collections, Michigan law allows condominium associations to recover attorney fees in many cases under the Michigan Condominium Act, which means the cost of enforcement may be billed back to the owner. Many Northern Michigan community associations appreciate having transparent, upfront pricing because seasonal turnover and part-time ownership create questions at unpredictable times.

Community association law is all we practice, and the experience shows: more than 2,000 community association clients across Michigan and Illinois represented since 2018. Kevin Hirzel and Matthew W. Heron hold the College of Community Association Lawyers Fellowship, a credential shared by fewer than 200 attorneys nationwide. We also publish Hirzel's Handbook for Michigan condos and HOAs, write a Michigan HOA law blog, and write a monthly newsletter that keeps board members and managers informed.

There are a few situations where legal counsel makes a real difference. If your association is dealing with short-term rental activity that may violate your governing documents, struggling to collect assessments from absentee or seasonal owners, working with outdated bylaws that no longer reflect how the community operates, or navigating a governance dispute among board members, those are all situations where having an experienced community association attorney can protect the board and the community association's finances.

Yes. Michigan courts have repeatedly upheld short-term rental bans under residential use restrictions in governing documents. The strength of your position depends on the language in your declaration or master deed, which is why many Northern Michigan associations adopt amendments adding rental caps, minimum lease terms, or restrictions on listing units on Airbnb and VRBO. Our attorneys draft enforceable rental provisions and enforce them when owners do not comply.

Smaller condominiums and homeowners associations face the same legal risks as larger communities, from delinquent assessments to enforcement disputes to outdated governing documents, but with fewer resources and smaller volunteer boards to manage them. We represent community associations of all sizes across Northern Michigan, and many of them are seasonal or resort communities with small boards. Most of the boards we work with call us when a specific issue comes up, whether that is a delinquent owner, an enforcement question, or a document that needs updating. We scope the matter and provide a clear fee agreement before any work begins.

An attorney demand letter is the first step, and it resolves about half of delinquent accounts by itself. If the owner still does not pay, the association can record a lien and, when needed, proceed to non-judicial foreclosure. Where the governing documents allow it, attorney fees, costs, and interest are recovered from the delinquent owner, and our collections process recovers the full delinquency plus fees and costs roughly 98% of the time. That matters in seasonal communities where absentee owners can let accounts slide.

Document it, then send a written notice naming the provision violated and the corrective action required. That resolves most issues. If an owner still will not comply, the board can impose fines, suspend privileges, or take legal action, and the cost of enforcement can often be charged back to the violator when the bylaws allow fee recovery. Enforce evenly and promptly, since delay and selective enforcement are the two mistakes that weaken a board's hand. We help Northern Michigan boards get this right.