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May 1, 2020
After being shut down since Governor Whitmer issued Executive Order 2020-21 on March 23, 2020, Michigan commercial and residential contractors can go back to work effective 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, May 7, pursuant to the Governor’s most recent Executive Order, 2020-70, issued late afternoon on May 1. More specifically, §10 (f) of EO 2020-70 provides: […]
April 24, 2020
Under the recently enacted CARES Act, homeowners, rental property owners, and renters may be eligible for mortgage relief options. To be protected against foreclosures, the mortgage must be federally owned or otherwise backed by one of the federal agencies. To understand who owns or backs your mortgage, you can call your servicer. The servicer has […]
April 17, 2020
Environmental regulators have issued discretionary environmental enforcement guidance in recognition that the COVID-19 pandemic will compromise or even prevent environmental compliance in certain circumstances. In response to the debilitating combination of worker shortages, closure of non-essential businesses, and stay-at-home orders, EPA has issued a new enforcement policy, and Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and […]
April 16, 2020
The most likely impact of the economic shutdown due to COVID-19 will be a rise in evictions, loan defaults and bankruptcy filings. While financial institutions, lessors and suppliers can be expected to work with many of their clients during this crisis, it is anticipated that not all businesses will survive. Last week, Crain’s Detroit reported […]
April 10, 2020
There are a number of challenges with conducting environmental due diligence for commercial real estate transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Government restrictions including shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines present obstacles for completing key requirements of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (“Phase I ESA”), Phase II sampling, a baseline environmental assessment (“BEA”) and due […]
April 9, 2020
Under Executive Order NO. 2020-41, Governor Whitmer permits a remote notarization to minimize interaction and facilitate working remotely during Stay Home, Stay Safe. Real Estate transactions are required by law to comply with rules and procedures that includes requiring a notary to be physically present. Under this Executive Order, the requirement that a notary must […]
April 2, 2020
While businesses close and the economy slows due to COVID-19, questions about obligations in real estate transactions and real property agreements continue to grow. Many parties may find themselves unable to meet their obligations because of the restrictions imposed by Executive Order 2020-21. Numerous companies and service providers supporting a real estate transaction are finding […]
March 27, 2020
In the wake of Governor Whitmer’s “Stay Safe, Stay Home” Executive Order 2020-21, many residential contractors have been uncertain as to what steps they could take to “button up” ongoing projects. There has been a lot of confusion about whether existing projects could be finished, or whether all construction activities had to end immediately. The […]
November 15, 2018
Escalating Environmental Due Diligence Costs Ahead? In 2019, we may see an increase in due diligence costs associated with many commercial real estate transactions in Michigan. There is proposed legislation to impose government fees on customary environmental due diligence reports, as described below. Pending before the Michigan legislature is a bill (Senate Bill 943) that […]
November 2, 2017
It’s a good time to move forward with leaking underground storage tank (LUST) cleanup work in Michigan. Last week, a new law was enacted to create the Legacy Release Program (LRP) to reimburse eligible owners and operators for a portion of the cleanup costs for older, “legacy” releases. We have seen them many times: old […]