Michigan landlord tenant law: the rules a landlord meets

Michigan security deposit law

Most you can take

1.5 months’ rentMCL 554.602

Back to the tenant within

30 daysMCL 554.609Itemised notice of damages with any balance within 30 days after the tenant leaves; the tenant must give a forwarding address within 4 days.

Rent and late fees

Late fee

No statute caps itNo statute sets this

Michigan rent increase laws and rent control

Notice before a rent increase

No statutory period confirmedMCL 123.411; MCL 554.134(1)No statute sets a rent-increase notice period. A month-to-month tenancy ends on one rental period's notice, which in practice limits how fast rent can change, and local governments may not control rent.

Rent control

Local rent control bannedMCL 123.411; MCL 554.134(1)

Entering the property: notice to the tenant

Notice before you enter

No statute sets thisNo statute sets this

Ending a tenancy and eviction notices

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

30 daysMCL 554.134One month's notice; where rent is payable at intervals under three months, notice equal to the rent interval suffices.

Unpaid rent

7 daysMCL 600.5714(1)(a); MCL 554.134(2)“7-day demand for possession”Paying in full within the period stops itThe landlord may file only if the tenant fails to pay the rent due within 7 days of service of the written demand. Accelerated rent from a lease breach does not count as rent due.

Another breach of the lease

Could not be confirmedMCL 600.5714(1)(b), (c); MCL 554.134“notice to quit”The statute does not say whether the breach can be fixedTermination for a breach other than rent needs a lease clause allowing it, and the lease sets the notice; Michigan courts routinely apply 30 days. Separate statutory demands exist for drug activity backed by a police report (24 hours) and for serious health hazards or damage (7 days).

Lockouts and shutoffs

Banned: lockouts and utility shutoffsMCL 600.2918

The Michigan eviction process, step by step

Disclosures a Michigan lease has to carry

• The lease must state, in 12-point type, the notice that Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for parties to rental agreements and must comply with the Truth in Renting Act, and must give the name and address for notices to the landlord. (MCL 554.634)
• The lease must contain (or the landlord must post or hand over at signing) the notice that a tenant in reasonable fear of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking may have rights to be released from the rental obligation. (MCL 554.601b)
• Within 14 days of move-in, the landlord must give written notice of the landlord's address, where the deposit is held, and the bold-type warning that the tenant must give a forwarding address within 4 days of moving out. (MCL 554.603)
• Where a deposit is taken, the landlord must give the tenant two blank move-in inventory checklists at the start of the lease. (MCL 554.608)