THE LAND DIVISION AMENDMENTS TO THE SUBDIVISION CONTROL ACT

On January 21, 1997, Governor Engler signed into law 1996 P.A. 591, the Land Division Act. This Act replaced the Subdivision Control Act after 30 years and changed the rules on how land is divided in Michigan. 1997 P.A. 87, effective July 28, 1997, amended the recently created 1996 Land Division Act. While some hailed these as positive changes allowing improved land use, others strongly disagree. This paper is an attempt to alleviate the frustration by providing a history of land division legislation in Michigan because past laws creates an assumed set of rights which are not easily changes. The second focus of the paper is to lessen the confusion level by defining the main points of the law