[No. 167.]

AN ACT to promote the health, safety and welfare of the people by regulating the light and ventilation, sanitation, fire protection, maintenance, alteration and improvement of dwellings; to define the classes of dwellings affected by the act, to establish administrative requirements and to establish remedies and fix penalties for the violation thereof.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

ARTICLE I.

General Provisions.

SECTION 1. Scope of the Act. This act shall be known as the Housing Law of Michigan and shall apply to every city and organized village in the State which, by the last federal census, had a population of ten thousand or more, and to every such city or village as its population shall reach ten thousand thereafter. All the provisions of the act shall apply to all dwellings within the classes defined in the following sections, except that in sections where specific reference is made to one or more specific classes of dwellings, such provisions shall apply only to those classes to which such specific reference is made. All other provisions which relate to dwellings shall apply to all classes of dwellings.

SEC. 2. Definitions. Certain words in this act are defined for the purposes thereof as follows: Words used in the present tense include the future; Words in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular; the word "person" includes a corporation as well as a natural person.

(1) Dwelling. A "dwelling" is any house or building or portion thereof which is occupied in whole or in part as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more human beings, either permanently or transiently.

(2) Classes of Dwellings. For the purposes of this act dwellings are divided into the following classes: (a) "private dwellings," (b) "two family dwellings," and (c) “multiple dwellings."

(a)

A "private dwelling" is a dwelling occupied by but one family alone.

(b) A "two family dwelling" is a dwelling occupied by but two families alone.

(c) A "multiple dwelling" is a dwelling occupied otherwise than as a private dwelling or two family dwelling.

(3) Classes of Multiple Dwellings. All multiple dwellings are dwellings and for the purposes of this act are divided into two classes, viz.: class A and class B.

Class A. Multiple-dwellings of class A are dwellings which are occupied more or less permanently for residence purposes by several families and in which the rooms are occupied in apartments, suites or groups. This class includes tenement houses, flats, apartment houses, apartment hotels, bachelor apartments, studio apartments, duplex apartments, kitchenette apartments, and all other dwellings similarly occupied whether specifically enumerated herein or not.

Class B. Multiple-dwellings of class B are dwellings which are occupied, as a rule transiently, as the more or less temporary abiding place of individuals who are lodged, with or without meals, and in which as a rule the rooms are occupied singly. This class includes hotels, lodging houses, boarding houses, furnished room houses, club houses, convents, asylums, hospitals, jails and all other dwellings similarly occupied whether specifically enumerated herein or not.

(4) Hotel. A "hotel" is a multiple-dwelling of class B in which persons are lodged for hire and in which there are more than fifty sleeping rooms, a public dining room for the accommodation of at least fifty guests, and a general kitchen.

(5) Mixed Occupancy. In cases of mixed occupancy where a building is occupied in part as a dwelling, the part so occupied shall be deemed a dwelling for the purposes of this act and shall comply with the provisions thereof relative to dwellings.

(6) Yards. A "rear yard" is an open unoccupied space on the same lot with a dwelling, between the extreme rear line of the lot and the extreme rear line of the house. A yard between the front line of the house and the front line of the lot is a "front yard." A yard between the side line of the house and the side line of the lot and which extends from the front line or front yard to the rear line of the lot or to the rear yard is a "side yard."

(7) Courts. A "court" is an open unoccupied space, other than a yard, on the same lot with a dwelling. A court not extending to the street or front or rear yard is an inner court. A court extending to the street or front yard or rear yard is an outer court.

(8) Corner and Interior Lots. A "corner lot" is a lot of which at least two adjacent sides abut for their full length upon a street. A lot other than a corner lot is an "interior lot."

(9) Front, Rear and Depth of Lot. The front of a lot is that boundary line which borders on the street. In case of a corner lot the owner may elect by statement on his plans either street boundary line as the front. The rear of a lot is the side opposite to the front. In the case of a triangular

or gore lot the rear is the boundary line not bordering on a street. The depth of a lot is the dimension measured from the front of the lot to the extreme rear line of the lot. In the case of irregular shaped lots the mean depth shall be taken.

(10) Public Hall. A "public hall" is a hall, corridor or passageway not within the exclusive control of one family.

(11) Stair Hall. A "stair hall" is a public hall and includes the stairs, stair landings and those portions of the building through which it is necessary to pass in going between the entrance floor and the roof.

(12) Basement, Cellar, Attic. (a) A "basement" is a story partly underground but having at least one-half of its height above the curb level, and also one-half of its height above the highest level of the adjoining ground. A basement if not occupied for living purposes by other than the janitor or his family shall not be counted as a story.

(b) A "cellar" is a story having more than one-half of its height below the curb level, or below the highest level of the adjoining ground. A cellar shall not be counted as a story for purposes of height measurement. If any part of a story is in that part the equivalent of a basement or cellar, the provisions of this act relative to basements and cellars shall apply to such part of said story.

(c) An attic, or story in a sloping roof, if not occupied. for living purposes, shall not be counted as a story.

(13) Height. The "height" of a dwelling is the perpendicular distance measured in a straight line from the curb level to the highest point of the roof beams in the case of flat roofs, and to the average of the height of the gable in the case of pitched roofs; the measurements in all cases to be taken through the center of the front of the house. Where a dwelling is situated on a terrace above the curb level such height shall be measured from the level of the adjoining ground. Where a dwelling is on a corner lot and there is more than one grade or level, the measurements shall be taken through the center of the front on the street having the lowest elevation.

(14) Curb Level. The "curb level" is the level of the established curb in front of the building measured at the center of such front. Where no curb has been established the city engineer shall establish such curb level or its equivalent for the purposes of this act.

(15) Occupied Spaces. Outside stairways, fire-escapes, fire-towers, porches, platforms, balconies, boiler flues and other projections shall be considered as part of the building and not as a part of the yards or courts or unoccupied spaces. This provision shall not apply to uninclosed outside porches not exceeding one story in height which do not extend into the front or rear yard a greater distance than twelve feet from the front or rear walls of the building, nor to one such porch which does not extend into the side

yard a greater distance than six feet from the side wall of the building nor exceed twelve feet in its other horizontal dimension, or to cornices not exceeding eighteen inches in width.

Fireproof Dwelling. A "fireproof dwelling" is one the walls of which are constructed of brick, stone, cement, iron or other hard incombustible material and in which there are no wood beams or lintels and in which the floors, roofs, stair halls and public halls are built entirely of brick, stone, cement, iron or other hard incombustible material, and in which no wood work or other inflammable material is used in any of the partitions, furrings or ceilings. But this definition shall not be construed as prohibiting elsewhere than in the public halls the use of wooden flooring on top of the fireproof floors or the use of wooden sleepers, nor as prohibiting wooden handrails or treads of hard wood not less than two inches thick.

(17) Wooden Buildings. "Wooden building" is a building of which the exterior walls or a portion thereof are of wood. Court walls are exterior walls.

(18) Nuisance. The word "nuisance" shall be held to embrace public nuisance as known at common law or in equity jurisprudence; and whatever is dangerous to human life or detrimental to health; whatever dwelling is overcrowded with occupants or is not provided with adequate ingress and egress to or from the same, or is not sufficiently supported, ventilated, sewered, drained, cleaned or lighted, in reference to its intended or actual use; and whatever renders the air or human food or drink unwholesome, are also severally, in contemplation of this act, nuisances; and all such nuisances are hereby declared illegal.

(19) Construction of Certain Words. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not directory, and denotes that the dwelling shall be maintained in all respects according to the mandate as long as it continues to be a dwelling. Wherever the words "charter," "ordinances," "regulations," "superintendent of buildings," "health department," "the board of health," "health officer," or such other appropriate public official as the mayor may designate "commissioner of public safety," "commissioner of public health," "department charged with the enforcement of this act," "corporation counsel," "mayor," "city treasury," or "fire limits" occur in this act they shall be construed as if followed by the words "of the city or village in which the dwelling is situated." Wherever the words "health department," "health officer," or such other appropriate public official as the mayor may designate, or "duly authorized assistant" or "board of health," "commissioner of public safety," or "commissioner of public health" are employed in this act, such words shall be deemed and construed to mean the official or officials in any city or village to whom is committed the charge of safeguarding the public health. The terms "superinten

dent of buildings," "building department" and "inspector of buildings" shall embrace the department and the executive head thereof specially charged with the execution of laws and ordinances relating to the construction of buildings. Wherever the words "occupied" or "used" are employed in this act such words shall be construed as if followed by the words "or is intended, arranged, designed, built, altered, converted to, rented, leased, let or hired out, to be occupied or used." Wherever the words "dwelling," "two family dwelling," "multiple dwelling," "building," "house," "premises" or "lot" are used in this act, they shall be construed as if followed by the words "or any part thereof." Wherever the words "city water" are used in this act, they shall be construed as meaning any public supply of water through street mains; and wherever the words "public sewer" are used in this act they shall be construed as meaning any part of a system of sewers that is used by the public, whether or not such part was constructed at the public expense. Wherever the word "street" is used in this act it shall be construed as including any public alley sixteen feet or more in width. "Approved fireproof material" means as set forth by ordinances, or if not so determined, as approved by the superintendent of buildings.

SEC. 3. Buildings Converted or Altered. A building not a dwelling, if thereafter converted or altered to such use shall thereupon become subject to all the provisions of this act relative to dwellings hereafter erected. A dwelling of one class if hereafter altered or converted to another class shall thereupon become subject to all the provisions of this act relative to such class.

SEC. 4. Alterations and Change in Occupancy. No dwelling hereafter erected shall at any time be altered so as to be in violation of any provision of this act. And no dwelling erected prior to the passage of this act shall at any time be altered so as to be in violation of those provisions of this act applicable to such dwelling. If any dwelling or any part thereof is occupied by more families than provided in this act, or is erected, altered or occupied contrary to law, such dwelling shall be deemed an unlawful structure, and the health officer or such other appropriate public of ficial as the mayor may designate, may cause such dwelling to be vacated. And such dwelling shall not again be occupied until it, or its occupation as the case may be, has been made to conform to the law.

SEC. 5. Dwellings Damaged. If a dwelling be damaged by fire or other cause to the extent of one-half or more of its original value, exclusive of the value of the foundations, such dwelling shall not be repaired or rebuilt except in conformity with the provisions of this act relative to dwellings hereafter erected.

SEC. 6. Dwellings Moved. If any dwelling be hereafter moved from one lot to another it shall theretipon be made