A package of bills sponsored by State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) passed Wednesday out of the House of Representatives protecting Michigan homeowners from new hidden fees that are being charged against property when it is sold.
Under the bills the new fees, known as “residential transfer fees” or “capital recovery” fees in other states, would be banned. These fees have caused controversy when attempting to sell property for many individuals. Sellers would have to give 1 percent of the selling price to the developer, and the person they were selling to could only buy the property if they agreed to do the same when they sold the home. Such ongoing fees could last for a period of 99 years, affecting multiple owners.
In other cases sellers were not even aware of the fees until they went to transfer the property and were told that they had to come up with additional money or have a lien placed upon the home that would scare buyers away.
“It is good to see these bills finally move out of the House because we were very close to passing them last session before they were blocked,” said Opsommer. “These fees do nothing but strip away hard earned equity from homeowners at a time when many have seen their home values plummet from the time they bought them. When you voluntarily pay a real estate agent to sell your home, you are getting a service. But these fees just pick homeowner’s pockets of thousands of dollars without providing them with any benefit and I think it will be an important consumer protection if signed into law.”
Opsommer said he would continue to address more housing related legislation he introduced last session, such as HB 4264. The bills were designed to make it easier for homeowners to exercise their right of first refusal in the foreclosure process and to get information from the property tax tribunal in a timely manner that wouldn’t require the continuous repayment of filing fees.
House Bills 4227 and 4228 now move on to the Senate.