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Articles 61 - 90 of 105

Full-Text Articles in Housing Law

Exclusionary Zoning: A Wrong In Search Of A Remedy, Leonard S. Rubinowitz Jan 1973

Exclusionary Zoning: A Wrong In Search Of A Remedy, Leonard S. Rubinowitz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article discusses affirmative approaches to providing effective relief in two types of exclusionary zoning cases: (1) remedies specific to a particular proposed development or a given site and (2) regional remedies, which provide a generalized framework for meeting what courts are increasingly identifying as a regional problem: the need for decent housing for all families. In the first instance (the "single-site" case) a court would remove obstacles in order to facilitate development of low- and moderate- income housing on a particular suburban site. In the second case (the regional approach) a court would specify the obligation of the municipalities …


Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble Jan 1973

Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article is a description of a study of cases filed and tried in the Detroit, Michigan, Common Pleas Court, Landlord-Tenant Division, during 1970 and 1971. The court is in a large urban center and handles a high volume of cases, in most of which one or both parties appear without an attorney. The impetus for the study was Michigan legislation passed in 1968, which gave tenants additional defenses to summary eviction procedures. The main goal of the study was to observe the effects of the legislation on tenants who were subject to summary proceedings in Detroit. The purpose of …


The Proposed Housing Consolidation And Simplification Act Of 1971, William A. Newman Jan 1972

The Proposed Housing Consolidation And Simplification Act Of 1971, William A. Newman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note will describe the operation of selected housing programs and suggest some of the difficulties posed by the current statutory bases for these programs. It will then evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications contained in the proposed bill.


Detroit Housing Code Enforcement And Community Renewal: A Study In Futility, Brett R. Dick, John S. Pfarr Jr. Dec 1969

Detroit Housing Code Enforcement And Community Renewal: A Study In Futility, Brett R. Dick, John S. Pfarr Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will demonstrate that the inconsistency is, to a large extent, more apparent than real and results from the application of two different conceptions of the purpose of the program to the same facts. Furthermore, it will be demonstrated that Detroit's Building (housing) Code has failed in its attempt to force rehabilitation of residential structures through Code enforcement. Although it can be made to work more efficiently, the Code will never serve as an effective solution to the housing problem.


Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead Apr 1969

Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The effect of most zoning devices which have been used in suburban and non-ghetto city planning in the past few decades has been to erect substantial economic barriers around entire cities. These devices include minimum lot size requirements, density zoning, frontage requirements, single family restrictions, and minimum living space requirements. While such zoning practices may not be exclusionary in purpose, exclusion of minority groups has been the result. Moreover, since most minorities are heavily concentrated in low income groups, economic segregation will bring about a high degree of racial and ethnic segregation. Indeed, it has been suggested that these economic …


Housing Codes, Building Demolition, And Just Compensation: A Rationale For The Exercise Of Public Powers Over Slum Housing, Daniel R. Mandelker Feb 1969

Housing Codes, Building Demolition, And Just Compensation: A Rationale For The Exercise Of Public Powers Over Slum Housing, Daniel R. Mandelker

Michigan Law Review

In programs of housing improvement and slum clearance, public agencies must often make difficult choices between the exercise of public powers of land acquisition, which require the payment of compensation, and public powers of noncompensatory regulation, which require no payment of compensation. This Article focuses on three of these programs-building demolition, urban renewal, and housing code enforcement. Public agencies may demolish slum dwellings, one at a time, without compensation. Title to the cleared site is not affected and remains in the owner after the building has been demolished. Under statutory powers of urban renewal, local public agencies may designate entire …


Persuader: Mobilization Of Support, Mary Ann Beattie Dec 1968

Persuader: Mobilization Of Support, Mary Ann Beattie

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Law reform can be achieved through precedent-setting case law and through legislation. Each is a time-consuming activity with its own stumbling blocks. To establish law through the case method, one must have a fact situation directly on point with the inequity which one is trying to remedy. In many situations the client must be willing to follow through a long process of trial and appeal, instead of settling for a more immediate but incomplete resolution of his problem. The costs of litigation may become an insurmountable problem. Another difficulty with the test case as a vehicle for law reform is …


Landlord And Tenant--Leases--Lease Executed In Violation Of District Of Columbia Housing Regulations Is An Illegal Contract--Brown V. Southall Realty Co., Michigan Law Review Jun 1968

Landlord And Tenant--Leases--Lease Executed In Violation Of District Of Columbia Housing Regulations Is An Illegal Contract--Brown V. Southall Realty Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff-landlord brought an action for possession based on nonpayment of rent in the Landlord-Tenant Branch of the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions. Although the parties stipulated at trial that the rent was 230 dollars in arrears, defendant-tenant contended that the plaintiff was not entitled to possession because the lease was an illegal contract under the District of Columbia Housing Regulations. The trial court rejected this contention and gave judgment for plaintiff. By the time her appeal to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals was heard, the tenant had vacated the premises and no longer desired to contest …


Slumlordism As A Tort--A Dissenting View, Walter J. Blum, Allison Dunham Jan 1968

Slumlordism As A Tort--A Dissenting View, Walter J. Blum, Allison Dunham

Michigan Law Review

The persistence of substandard housing in urban centers stands as a challenge to law. There is a pressing need to re-examine whether prevailing legal doctrines are adequate for dealing with the problem and to suggest new doctrines where the old are found wanting. To their great credit, Joseph L. Sax and Fred J. Hiestand in their article "Slumlordism as a Tort" face up to these tasks boldly and vigorously. They conclude that, under existing conditions, it is imprudent to rely on public authorities to enforce housing codes and it is unlikely that legislatures will place sufficient enforcement powers in private …


Slumlordism As A Tort--A Brief Response, Joseph L. Sax Jan 1968

Slumlordism As A Tort--A Brief Response, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

Professors Blum and Dunham begin their comment by accusing us of having a new idea. We plead guilty. Our purpose was to demonstrate that accepted principles in analogous areas of law would support a slumlordism action, not to argue that tort law as presently applied would do so. Indeed, our basic intent was to underscore the myopia of existing tort law perspectives.


Michigan Landlord-Tenant Law: Course Of Statutory Reform Jan 1968

Michigan Landlord-Tenant Law: Course Of Statutory Reform

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Introduction to the Articles, Draftsman: Formulation of Policy, Persuader: Mobilization of Support, and Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation of Impact


Draftsman: Formulation Of Policy, Carl Schier Jan 1968

Draftsman: Formulation Of Policy, Carl Schier

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most low income families rent their living accommodations; for them the lease arrangement is a precarious one at best. It is generally a periodic tenancy from week to week or month to month with the agreement rarely reduced to writing. If the allocation of rights and duties between the parties is spelled out by them at all, it is quite one-sided and normally delineates only what the tenant may and may not do. When there is no written agreement or when the writing is silent as to the obligations of the parties, the common law of landlord and tenant controls, …


Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation Of Impact, Ronald D. Glotta Jan 1968

Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation Of Impact, Ronald D. Glotta

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The natural question raised by the passage of "Tenant Rights" legislation is whether the new law helps or hinders the practicing attorney representing tenants. In analyzing the package of Tenant Rights Bills enacted in Michigan in 1968 this article will focus on three questions: 1) whether such legislation raises false hopes in being heralded as a major declaration of rights and an effort to solve the problem of housing shortage; 2) whether such legislation actually further oppresses tenants, especially in their exercise of the one effective instrument in their power: collective action; and 3) whether such legislation significantly changes the …


Slumlordism As A Tort, Joseph L. Sax, Fred J. Hiestand Mar 1967

Slumlordism As A Tort, Joseph L. Sax, Fred J. Hiestand

Michigan Law Review

The war against poverty has been fought with rather more vigor than its initiators contemplated. Thus far, however, the major engagements have taken place in the streets of Watts and Chicago, which is not quite what they had in mind. Some, who think it odd that as we pass more laws we get more lawlessness, will perhaps content themselves by observing that the feeding hand is always bitten. Those less easily satisfied have begun to see the need for adopting some legal solutions as far reaching as the problems they are designed to abate; the following article is addressed to …


Constitutional Law-State Action: Significant Involvement In Ostensibly Private Discriminations-Mulkey V. Reitman, Michigan Law Review Jan 1967

Constitutional Law-State Action: Significant Involvement In Ostensibly Private Discriminations-Mulkey V. Reitman, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

From 1959 through 1963, the California legislature enacted a series of statutes which prohibited racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. Most important among these were the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which proscribed racial discrimination by "business establishments of every kind,'' and the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which prohibited such conduct by anyone in the sale or rental of residential housing containing more than four units. Adverse public reaction to these statutes resulted in an amendment to the California constitution15 by means of an initiative measure in the general election of 1964. This amendment, popularly known as Proposition …


The Public Housing Administration And Discrimination In Federally Assisted Low-Rent Housing, Jordan D. Luttrell Mar 1966

The Public Housing Administration And Discrimination In Federally Assisted Low-Rent Housing, Jordan D. Luttrell

Michigan Law Review

The Public Housing Administration is the federal agency primarily responsible for the administration of the federally assisted low-rent housing program. Since the expense of constructing low-rent housing unassisted by federal funds is prohibitive for state or local governments, this program accounts for practically all low-rent housing in the United States. Consequently, PHA has exercised, and continues to exercise, substantial influence on the development of the nation's low-rent housing.


Fair Housing Laws And Brokers' Defamation Suits: The New York Experience, Michigan Law Review Mar 1966

Fair Housing Laws And Brokers' Defamation Suits: The New York Experience, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The New York Law Against Discrimination, originally enacted in 1945 to eliminate discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin, has been steadily broadened to encompass discrimination in such areas as public accommodations and private housing. The law was amended in 1961 and 1963 to enable the State Commission for Human Rights to prevent. discrimination by either the owner or the real estate broker in the selling, renting, or leasing of any housing accommodation or commercial space. Despite the apparently broad protection established by the sweeping language of the statute, real estate brokers have discovered a novel …


Enforcement Procedure Of Oberlin, Ohio, Fair Housing Ordinance Held Unconstitutional--Porter V. City Of Oberlin, Michigan Law Review Jan 1966

Enforcement Procedure Of Oberlin, Ohio, Fair Housing Ordinance Held Unconstitutional--Porter V. City Of Oberlin, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a citizen of Oberlin, Ohio, brought an action for declaratory and injunctive relief to review the constitutionality of the city's fair housing ordinance, which makes it a misdemeanor to discriminate because of race, creed, or color in the sale or rental of housing. Under the procedure established by the ordinance, the Housing Renewal Commission is directed to make investigations of complaints filed with it. If violations are discovered, the commission must attempt to eliminate the discriminatory practices by conciliation and persuasion. If these efforts fail, the entire record of the matter must be forwarded to the city council, accompanied …


Prior Lien On Rents And Profits Upheld As A Method Of Financing Repairs- In Re Dep't Of Bldgs., Michigan Law Review May 1965

Prior Lien On Rents And Profits Upheld As A Method Of Financing Repairs- In Re Dep't Of Bldgs., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Official findings of the New York Legislature in 1962 revealed the existence in certain cities of housing conditions which, unless immediately corrected, might cause irreparable damage to buildings or endanger the life, health and safety of their occupants or the general public. To facilitate the correction of these conditions and to increase the supply of adequate, safe dwelling units, the legislature enacted the 1962 Receivership Law, which creates a procedure enabling a city to enforce its housing codes by compelling needed repairs and improvements.


Conservation And Rehabilitation Of Housing: An Idea Approaches Adolescence, J. Michael Warren Mar 1965

Conservation And Rehabilitation Of Housing: An Idea Approaches Adolescence, J. Michael Warren

Michigan Law Review

From the time of construction, buildings are subject to the physical elements, the wear and tear of time, and the constant march of progress which transforms yesterday's luxuries into today's necessities. Left unchecked, these forces tend to produce the slums and blight that traditionally have been the curse of urban areas. Private, charitable, and civic organizations were the first to deal with the problem of improving conditions in slum areas. Later, state and local governments joined the effort, and although they were somewhat more successful than the pioneers in the field, without federal assistance the task proved to be beyond …


Condominium--Home Ownership For Megaopolis?, John E. Cribbet May 1963

Condominium--Home Ownership For Megaopolis?, John E. Cribbet

Michigan Law Review

The past year, 1962, witnessed no let up in the cold war between East and West. In the race for the conquest of space, in the battle of national rates of economic growth, in the propaganda struggle to fix the responsibility for nuclear testing, in the trial of strength over Cuba, and in countless other areas, each bloc leader continued to measure achievement against the rival's successes or defeats. The cold war is a deadly business and produces little to warm the cockles of a man's heart, but, if only the threat of nuclear destruction could be averted, there is …


Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Racial Discrimination And The Role Of The State, William C. Griffith S.Ed. May 1961

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Racial Discrimination And The Role Of The State, William C. Griffith S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Constitutional history from the 1857 Dred Scott decision to the 1954 Brown decision records "a movement from status to contract" for the American Negro. Although uncertainty clouds the definition of "state action," the civil rights of the Negro under the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment have been clearly established. The Negro citizen has arrived; the Negro minority group remains one of the gravest social problems of twentieth century America. De facto school segregation, limited economic opportunity, and inadequate housing are problems not solved by invocation of the fourteenth amendment or incantation of the Declaration of Independence. Solution, …


Greenberg: Race Relations And American Law, Spencer L. Kimball May 1960

Greenberg: Race Relations And American Law, Spencer L. Kimball

Michigan Law Review

A Review of RACE RELATIONS AND AMERICAN LAW. By Jack Greenberg.


Banks And Banking- Housing And Home Finance - Scope Of Insurance Coverage Of Banks Under National Housing Act, Robert L. Mclaughlin Feb 1960

Banks And Banking- Housing And Home Finance - Scope Of Insurance Coverage Of Banks Under National Housing Act, Robert L. Mclaughlin

Michigan Law Review

Borrower executed a promissory note to dealer payee, who assigned it to defendant bank. After default by borrower, plaintiff United States paid to defendant the unpaid balance in accordance with the terms of their insurance contract under Title I of the National Housing Act. The note was then transferred to plaintiff for collection. In an action by the United States against the borrower for the amount due, it was held that the note could not be enforced because of fraudulent misrepresentation by the dealer in acquiring the note, of which the insured bank and transferee government had constructive knowledge. Plaintiff …


Real Property - Mortgages - Liability Of Mortgagee Of Lessee's Term For Rent, Michael B. Lewiston S.Ed. Nov 1959

Real Property - Mortgages - Liability Of Mortgagee Of Lessee's Term For Rent, Michael B. Lewiston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent leased a building to South Texas Kitchens, Inc., for a term of five years. The lessee became indebted to petitioner and, being unable to meet this obligation, transferred its business assets and lease to petitioner as security. Petitioner was authorized to manage the business and to apply all proceeds to discharge the indebtedness, the transfer to terminate when the debt was fully paid. Petitioner went into possession of the premises and operated the business for about six months, paying the rent during that period. It then vacated the property and ceased making rental payments. Respondent sued petitioner and the …


Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Recent New York City Ordinance Bans Discrimination In Certain Private Housing Facilities, W. Stanley Walch May 1958

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Recent New York City Ordinance Bans Discrimination In Certain Private Housing Facilities, W. Stanley Walch

Michigan Law Review

A recent New York City ordinance is the first anti-discrimination legislation affecting the sale and rental of privately-owned housing to minority groups. The ordinance contains three principal provisions: It (1) forbids racial or religious discrimination by private owners in the selection of tenants or buyers for any "housing accommodation which is located in a multiple dwelling," (2) bans discrimination in the selection of purchasers by a seller of ten or more contiguous housing units, and (3) prohibits the owner or lessor of housing accommodations covered by the ordinance from discriminating because of race or religion in setting the terms of …


Real Property - Adverse Possession - Title Acquired By Husband And Wife, Richard S. Rosenthal, George F. Lynch S.Ed. Jun 1957

Real Property - Adverse Possession - Title Acquired By Husband And Wife, Richard S. Rosenthal, George F. Lynch S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

John and Maltie Preston moved onto a parcel of land in 1910 where they lived until 1950 when John died intestate. Maltie died intestate in 1954. Title to the land had been perfected by twenty years adverse possession. Evidence showed that the adverse possession was intended to inure to their joint benefit. Complainants, collateral heirs of John, sued in ejectment claiming that John took the whole title by exclusive adverse possession. Defendants, collateral heirs of Maltie, claimed a tenancy by the entirety had been created, with the survivor, Maltie, becoming the sole owner. The court of appeals ruled that the …


Real Property - Joint Tenancy - Effect Of Contract To Convery By Joint Tenants Of Entire Interest In Property As A Severance Of The Joint Tenancy, George W. Marti Jun 1957

Real Property - Joint Tenancy - Effect Of Contract To Convery By Joint Tenants Of Entire Interest In Property As A Severance Of The Joint Tenancy, George W. Marti

Michigan Law Review

H and W, as owners of certain real state in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, contracted to convey this property. Prior to conveyance, and while part of the purchase price still remained to be paid, H died. Petitioner, an heir of H, brought action in equity for a declaratory judgment to determine the effect of a contract to convey land held in joint tenancy. The lower court held the joint tenancy had been terminated by the contract of sale and the contract to convey was held by H and W as tenants in common so that on …


Constitutional Law - Due Process - Adequacy Of Notice By Publication, Cyril Moscow S.Ed. May 1957

Constitutional Law - Due Process - Adequacy Of Notice By Publication, Cyril Moscow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In condemnation proceedings instituted by a city against a landowner, notice of proceedings to determine his compensation was given only by publication in the official city newspaper. The statute in force called for notice either in writing or by publication. After the time authorized for appeal from a compensation award had elapsed, the landowner brought an equitable action to enjoin the city from entering upon the property, alleging that he knew nothing of the condemnation proceedings until after the time for appeal had passed. The trial court denied relief, holding that the newspaper publication was sufficient notice to meet due …


Real Property - Landlord And Tenant - Lessor's Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Sublease, William G. Mateer S.Ed. May 1957

Real Property - Landlord And Tenant - Lessor's Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Sublease, William G. Mateer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant leased a portion of plaintiff's building for a seven-year period. Contained in the lease was a covenant whereby the lessee agreed not to assign or sublet without the lessor's consent. One year prior to the expiration date of the lease, the defendant gave notice of his intention to vacate and submitted to the plaintiff a proposed sublease under which the premises would be rented to the Postmaster General of the United States. The plaintiff stipulated that the proposed sublessee was ready, able, and willing to assume the obligations of the original lease and was a proper sublessee in every …