Community Legal Resources announced released today the Vacant Property Legal Manual, a guide that provides distressed communities with easy to understand solutions to many complex legal issues surrounding vacant properties.

Written for community development corporations, neighborhood associations, and residents, the Vacant Property Legal Manual provides information on how to cope with the growing number of foreclosed and vacant properties across Michigan. The manual identifies legal issues related to vacant properties and offers strategies for stabilizing, controlling, acquiring and managing those properties.  “This will be a tremendous resource for linking communities facing the problem of vacant properties with creative legal solutions,” says Heidi Mucherie, Executive Director of Community Legal Resources. 

Community Legal Resources’ network of dedicated volunteer attorneys who participated in the Vacant Property Legal Team researched the complex legal issues surrounding vacant properties and wrote the manual based on their findings. Topics covered include ownership identification, maintenance responsibility, managing liability, and reducing risk.  A copy of the manual is available for free download on Community Legal Resources’ website: www.clronline.org.

Attorneys who volunteered for this project were: Vicki Harding of Pepper Hamilton, Dora June of Dickinson Wright, Amanda Legal of Pepper Hamilton, Rochelle Lento of Dykema Gossett PLLC, A’Jené Maxwell of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Mitchell Meisner of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Marilyn Mitchell of Evans & Luptak, Duncan Ogilvie of Miller Canfield, Kevin Plumstead of Jaffe Raitt, Michael Russell of Wayne County Corporation Counsel, Eric Sabree of Wayne County Corporation Counsel, and Laura Weingartner of Dykema Gossett PLLC. 

The Vacant Property Legal Manual was made possible through the generous support of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). To access the manual, please click here.

Community Legal Resources, a Michigan nonprofit, harnesses the expertise of volunteer attorneys who provide one-on-one legal assistance and educational resources to nonprofit organizations across the state that serve low-income or disadvantaged communities.  CLR also provides direct legal and technical assistance to communities who are looking to reclaim vacant properties and transform their neighborhoods.  Since its inception ten years ago, Community Legal Resources has served over 750 nonprofits located across Michigan and provided over $7.5 million in donated legal services.