Contract for Deed (Land Contract) - Michigan

MICHIGAN LAND CONTRACT

Recordable event: LAND CONTRACT

Recording Information

1. Parties and Transaction

Vendor / Seller: [FULL LEGAL NAME AND CAPACITY]

Address: [________________________________]

Vendee / Buyer: [FULL LEGAL NAME AND CAPACITY]

Address: [________________________________]

Vendor agrees to sell and Vendee agrees to purchase the real property described below on the payment and performance terms of this Land Contract.

Property situated in [________________] County, Michigan:

[FULL LEGAL DESCRIPTION OR PERMITTED EXHIBIT REFERENCE]

Common address: [________________________________]

Parcel number: [________________________________]

Included improvements, fixtures, easements, personal property, or excluded items:

[____________________________________________________________]

2. Price and Payment Terms

Attach an amortization schedule identifying principal, interest, escrow, and other components. Usury, licensing, disclosure, ability-to-repay, balloon, servicing, escrow, and consumer-credit rules must be reviewed for the actual transaction and parties.

Application of payments: [________________________________]

3. Possession and Title

Vendee may take possession on [__/__/____], subject to:

[LEASES / OCCUPANTS / CONDITIONS / NOT APPLICABLE]

Vendor retains the record legal title pending full performance. This Contract does not itself guarantee the characterization or priority of every equitable, possessory, tax, bankruptcy, creditor, insurance, or casualty interest.

At full payment and performance, Vendor must deliver the following deed and title:

☐ Warranty deed using the full MCL 565.151 covenants

☐ No-warranty quitclaim deed under MCL 565.152

☐ Express limited-covenant deed drafted here: [________________________________]

Permitted exceptions at deed delivery: [________________________________]

Title evidence, survey, escrow, closing, and deed-delivery process: [________________________________]

4. Recording and Priority

MCL 565.351 requires the vendor named in a Michigan-executed land contract to execute it and acknowledge it before a judge or Michigan notary. Under MCL 565.354, a contract executed and acknowledged under the Act is entitled to recording and has the same recording effect against later encumbrancers and purchasers as deeds and mortgages.

☐ Full Contract will be recorded

☐ Counsel approved this separately drafted memorandum: [________________________________]

Recording responsibility and cost: [________________________________]

Do not cite MCL 565.356 as the recording rule; that section defines land-contract parties, mortgages, and related interests.

5. Taxes, Assessments, Insurance, and Maintenance

Casualty and condemnation proceeds: [________________________________]

6. Existing Debt and Encumbrances

Senior mortgage, lien, land contract, lease, or other encumbrance:

[HOLDER / RECORDING DATA / BALANCE / PAYMENT / DUE-ON-SALE TERMS / NONE]

Vendor's obligations concerning senior debt, taxes, further encumbrance, releases, payoff, and proof of performance:

[____________________________________________________________]

12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3 generally permits a lender to enforce a contractual due-on-sale clause subject to its terms and statutory exceptions. Its exemptions for certain residential transfers are specific; do not assume this Land Contract fits one. Obtain written lender review or consent where required.

7. Assignment and Financing of Interests

Vendor assignment: [________________________________]

Vendee assignment: [________________________________]

Release of original obligor, if any: [________________________________]

MCL 565.357 permits a vendor or vendee to grant a land-contract mortgage and recognizes their respective real-property interests for that Act, without overriding enforceable contractual restrictions on sale, assignment, mortgage, or further encumbrance.

8. Default and Contractual Notice

Material payment and nonpayment defaults:

[____________________________________________________________]

Contractual notice, service, and cure beyond any statutory minimum:

[____________________________________________________________]

Acceleration, fees, costs, protective advances, and interest after default:

[____________________________________________________________]

All remedies remain subject to applicable law, waiver, election, reinstatement, bankruptcy, servicing, consumer-protection, military, and court requirements.

9. Express Forfeiture Provision

This Contract expressly gives Vendor the right to declare termination or forfeiture for nonpayment of money required under the Contract or another material breach, subject to MCL 600.5726, MCL 600.5728, and all other applicable law.

For summary possession after forfeiture, MCL 600.5726 excludes accelerated indebtedness from “moneys required to be paid” under the chapter. MCL 600.5728 requires written notice of forfeiture with the statutory contents and, unless the parties agreed in writing to a longer time, 15 days after service to pay required money, cure other material breaches, or deliver possession.

After a judgment for possession based on land-contract forfeiture, MCL 600.5744(4) delays the writ 90 days if less than 50% of the purchase price has been paid and six months if 50% or more has been paid. Subsection (7) bars the writ if the judgment amount and taxed costs are timely paid and other material breaches cured; subsection (8) says issuance of the writ forecloses the purchaser's equitable redemption right.

Payments credited toward purchase-price percentage must be documented here:

[____________________________________________________________]

10. Foreclosure and Remedy Election

MCL 600.3101 gives the circuit court jurisdiction to foreclose real-estate mortgages and land contracts, subject to its stated exception. This Contract does not promise acceleration, a deficiency, attorney fees, a particular sale or redemption schedule, or cumulative remedies merely because foreclosure is selected.

Before enforcement, counsel must determine the available claim, required notices and pleadings, effect of prior notices or judgments, reinstatement or redemption rights, amount recoverable, forum, and the consequences of choosing or completing a remedy.

No self-help removal, lockout, utility shutoff, seizure of property, or private forfeiture dispossession is authorized.

11. Residential Seller Disclosure

MCL 565.952 applies the Seller Disclosure Act to transfers of interests in real estate containing one to four residential dwelling units, including an installment land contract, subject to statutory exceptions. If no earlier binding purchase agreement exists, MCL 565.954 requires delivery before the transferor executes the installment sales contract and requires compliance to be indicated on the contract, an addendum, or a separate document.

☐ Act applies; completed disclosure delivered on [__/__/____] by [METHOD]

☐ Exemption under MCL 565.953([____]): [________________________________]

☐ Nonresidential or outside § 565.952: [________________________________]

12. Federal Lead-Based-Paint Disclosure

For a sale of nonexempt target housing, 42 U.S.C. § 4852d and 24 C.F.R. §§ 35.80-.94 require pre-obligation disclosures, available reports, an approved pamphlet, a purchaser evaluation opportunity, and the required signed warning/certification attachment.

☐ Target housing; compliant lead attachment and pamphlet delivered before obligation

☐ Purchaser received a 10-day evaluation opportunity

☐ Different written period: [________________________________]

☐ Purchaser made a written waiver

☐ Exempt / not target housing: [________________________________]

Retain the completed federal attachment for at least three years from completion of the sale under 24 C.F.R. § 35.92(c).

13. Transfer-Tax and Tax-Certificate Review

MCL 207.505(m) and 207.526(o) exempt a land contract in which legal title does not pass until the total contract consideration is paid. State and county reasons for exemption must be stated on the instrument under §§ 207.511 and 207.533.

County exemption: MCL 207.505(m) — [CONFIRM FACTS]

State exemption: MCL 207.526(o) — [CONFIRM FACTS]

MCL 211.135 expressly includes a land contract in its certificate framework. Confirm and obtain the required state/county and local certificates unless a current statutory exception applies.

14. General Terms

Notices: [________________________________]

Governing law and any transaction-appropriate venue term: [________________________________]

Entire agreement and amendment method: [________________________________]

Severability and waiver: [________________________________]

Counterparts and agreed electronic-transaction process: [________________________________]

15. Execution

Vendor

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed legal name: [________________________________]

Capacity: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Vendee

Signature: ________________________________________

Printed legal name: [________________________________]

Capacity: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Vendor Acknowledgment

State of Michigan

County of [________________________________]

The foregoing record was acknowledged before me on [__/__/____] by [NAME AND REPRESENTATIVE CAPACITY, IF ANY].

Notary signature: ________________________________________

Printed notary name: [________________________________]

Notary public, State of Michigan, County of [________________________________]

My commission expires: [__/__/____]

Acting in the County of: [________________________________]

Notarial method, if applicable: ☐ In person ☐ Approved electronic notarization ☐ Approved remote electronic notarization

Vendee Acknowledgment

Repeat a compliant acknowledgment if Vendee's signed obligations will be recorded.

Sources and References

• MCL 565.351 — Vendor execution and acknowledgment
• MCL 565.354 — Recording effect
• MCL 565.356-.357 — Definitions and mortgages of interests
• MCL 600.3101 — Judicial foreclosure jurisdiction
• MCL 600.5726 — Express forfeiture and accelerated debt
• MCL 600.5728 — Notice and cure
• MCL 600.5744 — Writ timing and cure
• MCL 565.952 and 565.954 — Seller disclosure
• MCL 207.505 and 207.526 — Transfer-tax exemptions
• MCL 211.135 — Tax-certificate requirements
• 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3 — Due-on-sale framework
• 42 U.S.C. § 4852d — Lead disclosure
• 24 C.F.R. Part 35, Subpart A

This template is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Michigan real-estate and lending counsel must review the completed Land Contract before signing, recording, or enforcement.