Michigan Waterfront Property Rights Basics

Are you thinking about buying a waterfront home in Oakland county? You’ve got to know these 5 property rights basics.

When you own property on a bank or shore of an inland lake, you have riparian rights.

These rights give you: 

1. access to the water

2. right to install a dock

3. the right to anchor a boat on the bottomland

4. reasonable domestic use of the water

5. ownership of sand and organic matter that accumulates on your shoreline

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Michigan riparian property owners who own land on navigable inland lakes or streams own the respective bottomlands covered by water. However, they do not own the water or the fish that swim within those waters.

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