Municipal water & sewage liens; MCL 123.165; The Revenue Bond Act (MCL 141.101 et seq.); MCL 141.121(3); NL Ventures VI Farmington, LLC v. Livonia; MCL 123.162; Transfer of the charges to the tax roll; Enforcement of the statutory lien; MCL 123.163

The court held that a landlord is required by MCL 123.165 and 141.121 “to file a new water affidavit with each lease in order to prevent charges for water arrears from becoming” the landlord’s responsibility and a lien on the property. But defendant-city lacked the authority to transfer unpaid water charges to the tax rolls before the six-month period set forth in MCL 141.121(3) expired. As there was no question of fact that plaintiff-landlord did not file new water affidavits with subsequent leases, defendant was authorized to place liens on his rental properties. However, its procedure for entering them on the tax roll was unlawful because it transferred the charges to his “tax bills less than 60 days after the charges accrued.” Thus, the trial court erred in granting defendant summary disposition on plaintiff’s claims for quiet title and a writ of mandamus related “to defendant’s procedure for placement of the arrears on the tax rolls.” He argued that “the trial court erred in its interpretation of MCL 123.165 and MCL 141.121(3) by requiring a new affidavit for each leasehold period contrary to the explicit language of the statute.” The court disagreed, holding that in order to “be entitled to protection from liens beyond the date the subject lease expires, the lessor must provide the applicable governmental official with a new notice regarding the terms of subsequent leases and, under MCL 123.165, that notice must be in the form of an affidavit that identifies the expiration date of the lease. Plaintiff admitted that he filed only one water affidavit for each of his rental properties.” Given that the charges in question were incurred after the affidavits and leases expired, “defendant was not prohibited from imposing a lien for those charges. The fact that plaintiff may have filed, or attempted to file, subsequent leases with defendant is of no consequence because MCL 123.165 explicitly requires the lessor who wishes to avoid a lien for a tenant’s charges to file an affidavit, which plaintiff did not do.” But the court agreed with him that “defendant could not lawfully transfer the charges to the tax roll because the charges involved in this case had been delinquent for less than six months.” Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to refund plaintiff the charges paid due to the liens being unlawfully placed on the tax rolls before the six-month period expired.