Real Estate Law
The record decides ownership. Not the handshake, not the fence line, not what everyone assumed at closing.
Zamzam Law represents landlords and tenants, heirs and personal representatives, owners, buyers, sellers, investors and developers in Michigan property matters. Commercial and residential. Opposite other owners, lenders, servicers, title companies and municipalities.
That is broader than contracts and closings. Evictions and possession, on either side. Property still sitting in the name of an owner who died years ago. Foreclosure, redemption, and the surplus a county owes back after a tax sale. Title that will not clear the week a buyer is waiting.
Every deed, mortgage, lien, easement and judgment that has touched a parcel sits in the county register of deeds. Most property fights are fights about that record. What it says, what it should say, and who has the right to change it.
The rest are fights about performance. A tenant stops paying and stays. A seller refuses to close on a signed agreement. A builder takes a deposit and goes quiet. A neighbor’s fence sits eight feet onto land that is not theirs, and has for years.
Deadlines govern both, and several of them are shorter than people expect. A demand for possession, a redemption period, a lien deadline and a tax foreclosure date all run on their own schedule and none of them wait.
Matters outside Michigan go to counsel admitted there.
Matters handled
Seven groups. Each line goes to the page that covers it.
How a matter runs
Four steps. You will know where yours stands at each one.
- Conflicts and intakeThe property, the parties, and any date already on the calendar. The conflicts check happens before anything confidential is discussed.
- The file gets readDeed, title work, agreement, notices, disclosures, survey and correspondence. These matters turn on the documents and the order of events.
- Position and optionsWhere the claim is strong, where it is not, what each route costs, and whether the other side can satisfy a judgment.
- Demand, negotiation or filingRoutine possession and deposit matters move straight to the statutory process. Contested matters are negotiated or filed. Scope and fees are set in writing first.
Common questions
How fast can an eviction move?
The notice period runs first, commonly seven days for nonpayment and thirty to end a month to month tenancy. District court sets summary proceedings quickly after filing, and a writ issues after the statutory period once a possession judgment enters. The forms and the procedure are standard. What extends the timeline is a defective notice, not the court.
Do we have to open probate to sell an inherited house?
It depends on how title was held. A lady bird deed, a funded trust or survivorship language can move the property without it. A deed in the deceased owner’s name alone generally cannot be conveyed until someone holds letters of authority. The deed answers this, and it can be checked the same day.
The sheriff sale already happened. Is it too late?
Usually not. A redemption period runs after the sale, and during it you generally remain in possession and retain the right to redeem. Once it expires the standard for challenging the sale becomes materially harder, which is why this one is answered by phone.
How long does a contested case take?
A demand resolved by negotiation takes weeks. A filed case with discovery runs months. A contested quiet title or boundary matter runs longer. You get a real range once the file has been read.
What does it cost?
[FEE STRUCTURE]. Scope and fees are set in writing before work starts, and you will be told if a matter is not worth what it costs to pursue.
What should I bring?
The deed, the lease and any notice served, the purchase agreement, the title work, any survey, the disclosures, correspondence with the other side, and anything already filed or served. A short timeline of what happened helps.
There is a deadline this week.
Call. Court dates, closing dates, redemption deadlines and scheduled hearings are handled by phone, not by form.
My property is outside Michigan.
Real property is governed by the law of the state where it sits. Yours goes to counsel licensed there.
A property dispute rarely improves with time.
[PHONE]Matters with a closing date, a filing deadline or a hearing already on the calendar are handled by phone.