What is the Marketable Record Title Act?
The Marketable Record Title Act (the “MRTA”) was passed originally in 1945 to help streamline land transactions in Michigan. Under the MRTA, people who are working with the record title owner of the property are permitted to rely on the property’s recorded title as shown by the register of deeds office for the 40 years prior to the transaction. The MRTA operates by eliminating specific property rights and interests by letting them expire under the specific circumstances outlined in detail in the MRTA after a period of 40 years (or 20 years, for mineral rights and interests) unless the holder records a notice of claim to preserve the interest.
What does the MRTA do?
The MRTA works to extinguish all claims that arise from any act, event, omission, or transaction that came before the 40-year period. This applies unless there is a notice of claim recorded during the 20-year period after a mineral interest is created or during the 40-year period after another interest is created that sets the nature of the claim.
When was the MRTA amended?
Governor Whitmer signed 2025 PA 13 into law on September 29, 2025, which amended the MRTA. The amendment exempted a broader range of easements and restrictions from the MRTA and extend the deadline for the preservation of specific property rights and interests under the MRTA.
How did the amendment impact exempted easements?
The amendment expanded the categories of easements that will not be extinguished based on a failure to record a notice of claim. These include easements for driveways, trailways, drains, substations, electric generation facilities, energy storage facilities, other energy facilities, stormwater and drainage facilities, and utility facilities. The MRTA also does not ban or extinguish land restrictions which are part of a declaration or plat that was recorded after 1950, or those restrictions and easements in a recorded master deed for a condominium. For a full list of all interests not extinguished by the MRTA, see MCL 565.104.
How did the amendment impact exempted easements?
The amendment expanded the categories of easements that will not be extinguished based on a failure to record a notice of claim. These include easements for driveways, trailways, drains, substations, electric generation facilities, energy storage facilities, other energy facilities, stormwater and drainage facilities, and utility facilities. The MRTA also does not ban or extinguish land restrictions which are part of a declaration or plat that was recorded after 1950, or those restrictions and easements in a recorded master deed for a condominium. For a full list of all interests not extinguished by the MRTA, see MCL 565.104.
Who can file a notice of claim?
The class of people who may file a notice of claim has been expanded by the amendment. The MRTA specifically allows a property owners’ association, and persons acting on behalf of a claimant as an agent or as otherwise authorized in writing, to file a notice. Previously, the MRTA allowed either a claimant or a person acting on their behalf in certain circumstances to file a notice.
What is the new safe harbor?
The amendment added a new section to the MRTA that created a safe harbor that allows instruments which convey land or warrant title land to do so subject to an interest without creating, preserving, or continuing that interest so long as specific language is included in the conveyance document.
What are the content requirements for a notice of claim?
Finally, the amendment expanded the content requirements for a notice of claim. A notice of claim must now contain the name and mailing address of all the owners of the land that the claimant believes is affected by the notice. An “owner” for the purposes of the MRTA is the person identified with names and addresses on the tax roll on the date of recording. A form notice is now provided, but its use is not required.