(1) A qualified insurer may exclude from a qualified warranty:

     (a) Landscaping, both hard and soft, including plants, fencing, detached patios, planters not forming a part of the building envelope, gazebos, and similar structures;

     (b) Any commercial use area and any construction associated with a commercial use area;

     (c) Roads, curbs, and lanes;

     (d) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, site grading and surface drainage except as required by the building code;

     (e) Municipal services operation, including sanitary and storm sewer;

     (f) Septic tanks or septic fields;

     (g) The quality or quantity of water, from either a piped municipal water supply or a well;

     (h) A water well, but excluding equipment installed for the operation of a water well used exclusively for a unit, which equipment is part of the plumbing system for that unit for the purposes of the qualified warranty.

     (2) The exclusions permitted by subsection (1) of this section do not include any of the following:

     (a) A driveway or walkway;

     (b) Recreational and amenity facilities situated in, or included as the common property of, a unit;

     (c) A parking structure in a multiunit building;

     (d) A retaining wall that:

     (i) An authority with jurisdiction requires to be designed by a professional engineer; or

     (ii) Is reasonably required for the direct support of, or retaining soil away from, a unit, driveway, or walkway.

[2004 c 201 § 601.]