Published 2026-09-25 · 16 min read

Michigan Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Rules That Actually Matter

Quick answer - Michigan: Michigan caps deposits at 1.5 months' rent (MCL 554.602), held in a regulated institution or bonded. Mail the itemized notice of damages within 30 days after occupancy ends or forfeit all deductions; disputed amounts must be sued for or returned within 45 days. Nonpayment takes a 7-day demand.

Michigan looks landlord-friendly at a glance — a 1.5-month deposit cap, a 7-day demand for nonpayment, and a summary-proceedings track built for speed — but the detail is unforgiving. The deposit statute runs four clocks at once, the Truth in Renting Act voids whole categories of lease clauses that still appear in downloaded templates, and two brand-new laws (one in April 2025, two more in September 2026) changed rules that most existing guides still state the old way. This guide covers the rules that actually catch Michigan landlords off guard, verified against the current official text on legislature.mi.gov.

Six corrections to what older guides (including the previous version of this page) say. First, source of income is now a protected characteristic in Michigan housing: since April 2, 2025, a landlord of five or more rental units (counting related entities) may not deny a tenancy, impose different terms, or exclude a rent voucher or subsidy from an income calculation because of an applicant's source of income (MCL 554.601c; MCL 37.2502(3)). Second, rent payment fees changed in September 2026: 2026 PA 103 added a new prohibited lease provision — a rental agreement may not impose an additional charge or fee on every method of paying rent; if more than one method is allowed, at least one must be usable without an extra charge (MCL 554.633(1)(o)). Third, deposit balances may now be returned electronically: 2026 PA 102 amended MCL 554.609 so the balance may be paid by direct deposit or electronic transfer, deposited within 10 days after the itemized notice is mailed, instead of a check or money order enclosed with it (MCL 554.609(3)). Fourth, there is no "no checklist, no deductions" rule: MCL 554.608 requires inventory checklists at both ends of the tenancy, but the Act's actual deduction bars are the prior-checklist bar in MCL 554.609(2), the forfeiture in MCL 554.610, and the suit-or-return rule in MCL 554.613 — not a missing checklist. Fifth, Michigan has no statutory repair-and-deduct remedy with a dollar cap: the often-quoted "$300 or one month's rent" figure is not in MCL 554.139 or anywhere else in the landlord-tenant acts; the tenant's real leverage is the habitability defense in court, recognized since Rome v. Walker, 196 NW2d 850 (Mich. 1972), plus the escrow routes listed in MCL 600.5720(1)(g). Sixth, the anti-lockout damages are two different numbers, not one: a forcible ejection pays three times actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, but ordinary unlawful interference pays actual damages or $200 per occurrence — only the first is trebled (MCL 600.2918(1)–(2)).

Disclaimer: this is general information, not legal advice. Michigan landlord-tenant law is statute-dense and several cities add their own registration and inspection regimes; consult a Michigan landlord-tenant attorney for your situation.

Michigan's unusual 1.5-month deposit cap, 7-day eviction demands, and district-court process don't match the neighboring states' rules — and even a fast eviction fails if a deadline is missed. The 50-State Landlord Law Dataset (CSV + JSON) ($29) puts all 50 states' deposit caps, return deadlines, damage multipliers, and entry-notice rules in one searchable spreadsheet so you can compare and comply without re-reading statutes.

At a glance

How much can a Michigan landlord charge as a security deposit, and when must it be returned?

Michigan's Security Deposit Act, MCL 554.601–554.616 (1972 PA 348), is covered in full on the sister page, Michigan security deposit law. The short version every Michigan landlord needs:

• Cap: 1.5 months' rent (MCL 554.602). Everything that functions as a refundable deposit counts toward the one ceiling — there is no separate pet-deposit stack on top of it.
• Day 14: within 14 days after the tenant assumes possession, give the written MCL 554.603 notice — your name and address, the name and address of the financial institution or the surety, and the tenant's duty to provide a forwarding address within 4 days after moving out — with the statutory statement in 12-point boldface.
• Bank it or bond it: the money sits in a regulated financial institution; you may use it only if a cash or surety bond securing all deposits (in full to $50,000, plus 25% of any excess) is on file with the secretary of state (MCL 554.604). Until you establish a right to part of it, the deposit is the tenant's property (MCL 554.605), and the Act's requirements cannot be waived (MCL 554.606).
• Checklists at both ends: two blank copies of the commencement inventory checklist at move-in, the tenant's copy back within 7 days after possession, and a termination checklist completed by you listing every item of damage claimed (MCL 554.608). A notice may not include damages that appeared on a previous tenant's termination checklist (MCL 554.609(2)).
• Day 30: mail the itemized notice of damages — per-item estimated repair costs, amounts and bases, and the MCL 554.609(4) boldface statement that the tenant must respond by mail within 7 days after receipt or forfeit the amount claimed — with a check or money order for the balance, or pay the balance electronically within 10 days after mailing under MCL 554.609(3), the route added by 2026 PA 102.
• Day 7 / Day 45: the tenant responds in detail by ordinary mail within 7 days after receipt, the mailing date counting as the response date (MCL 554.612). For any amount the tenant timely disputes, you must sue or return it within 45 days after termination of occupancy, and not thereafter (MCL 554.613(1)).
• The three sanctions are different — do not merge them: miss the 30-day notice and you are deemed to agree no damages are due, so the full deposit goes back immediately (MCL 554.610); retain a disputed amount without a money judgment (and outside the four statutory exceptions) and you have not complied with MCL 554.613; fail to comply fully with MCL 554.613 and you waive all claimed damages and owe double the amount retained (MCL 554.613(2)).

Permissible deductions are a closed list (MCL 554.607): actual damages from conduct not reasonably expected in the normal course of habitation, rent in arrears, rent due for premature termination, and unpaid utility bills the tenant was responsible for. Normal wear is not a deduction. Use the Security Deposit Deadline Finder to calendar the clocks and the deductions guide for the itemization itself.

A worked example

Rent is $1,200 a month and the deposit is $1,800, at the 1.5-month cap. Occupancy terminates on Monday, March 2, 2026.

• The tenant's written forwarding address is due Friday, March 6, 2026 (4 days, MCL 554.611).
• You claim $650 — $400 of damage beyond normal habitation and $250 of unpaid utilities — so the balance is $1,150. The itemized notice must be mailed by Wednesday, April 1, 2026 (30 days), with a check or money order for $1,150, or the $1,150 must land electronically by Saturday, April 11, 2026 (10 days after mailing).
• The tenant receives the notice Friday, April 3 and mails a detailed dispute of the $400 damage item on Friday, April 10, 2026 — inside the 7-day window. Your deadline to sue for that $400 or return it is Thursday, April 16, 2026 (45 days from March 2), and not thereafter.

Miss April 1 and the $650 is gone entirely under MCL 554.610. Miss April 16 on the disputed $400 and the claim is waived and you owe double the amount retained — 2 × $400 = $800 — on top of returning it.

Rent rules

No rent control — and cities cannot create it. Michigan has no state rent-control statute, and MCL 123.411 bars a local governmental unit from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing an ordinance that controls the amount of rent charged for private residential property (voluntary incentive programs and property the unit itself owns are carved out). Claims in some guides that individual Michigan cities "have rent control" are wrong as to private housing: the preemption is statewide.

Raising rent. There is no statute requiring a specific rent-increase notice period, and no increase may be imposed mid-term unless the lease allows it. In practice the increase rides on termination: for a tenancy at will or by sufferance, MCL 554.134(1) requires 1 month's notice to terminate, reduced where rent is payable at periods under 3 months to a notice equal to the payment interval — so a monthly tenant effectively gets a month. See how to raise rent legally.

Late fees. Michigan sets no cap and no grace period. A late fee must be in the lease, and courts judge it as liquidated damages — it must be a reasonable estimate of the landlord's actual costs of late payment, not a penalty. Because there is no grace period, the 7-day nonpayment demand may be served as soon as rent is due and unpaid; the late fee and the demand run on separate tracks.

Fee-free payment (new, September 2026). 2026 PA 103 (Senate Bill 373, signed September 21, 2026) amended the Truth in Renting Act: a rental agreement now may not impose an additional charge or fee on all methods for the payment of rent allowed under the agreement, and if the agreement allows more than one method, at least one method must be usable without the tenant incurring an additional charge or fee (MCL 554.633(1)(o)). The law does not ban portal or card fees — it bans making every route a paid route. A lease that violates the provision contains a void clause, and the cure-and-damages machinery of MCL 554.635–554.636 (below) applies to it.

Returned checks. Where a lease so provides, Michigan's bad-check statute is a separate civil track from the late fee; do not stack a check fee the lease does not authorize.

What does Michigan's Truth in Renting Act require in every lease?

The Truth in Renting Act, MCL 554.631–554.641 (1978 PA 454), regulates the document itself.

Two mandatory statements (MCL 554.634). Every rental agreement must (1) state the name and address at which notice under the Act is to be given to the lessor, and (2) state, in a prominent place in type not smaller than 12-point (or legible print with letters not smaller than 1/8 inch), the statutory notice: "NOTICE: Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for parties to rental agreements. This agreement is required to comply with the Truth in Renting Act. If you have a question about the interpretation or legality of a provision of this agreement, you may want to seek assistance from a lawyer or other qualified person." Omitting either is the more expensive violation — see the damages split below.

Void clauses (MCL 554.633(1)). A rental agreement may not include a provision that:

• excludes or discriminates against a person in violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act or the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act;
• waives or alters rights or procedures under the forcible-entry and summary-proceedings laws, or waives rights under the anti-lockout statute, MCL 600.2918;
• provides for a confession of judgment by either party;
• relieves the landlord from liability for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a duty imposed by law (with a narrow fire/casualty carve-out tied to insurance the tenant can recover under);
• waives or alters the right to a jury trial or other notice/procedure rights required by law;
• makes a party liable for legal costs or attorney's fees in excess of what a statute specifically permits;
• gives the landlord a security interest in the tenant's personal property to secure rent, except as specifically permitted by statute;
• accelerates rent on breach without stating the duty to mitigate and preserving either party's right to have a court determine the amount due;
• waives the tenant's rights under the Security Deposit Act, or releases a party from the duty to mitigate damages;
• requires the tenant to pay rent or accept the premises while the premises violate applicable health and safety law, or requires the tenant to waive the MCL 554.139 habitability covenants (except as that section itself allows modification on a term of at least one year);
• violates the Michigan Consumer Protection Act;
• requires the tenant to give the landlord a power of attorney; or
• imposes an additional charge or fee on all methods of paying rent allowed under the agreement (added by 2026 PA 103).

A clause that violates MCL 554.633 is void — not merely unenforceable at a judge's discretion — and MCL 554.633(2) separately bars any clause that, at least 90 days before the agreement was signed, had been prohibited by statute or declared unenforceable by a published Michigan or U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Cure first, then damages (MCL 554.635–554.636). A landlord may cure by giving written notice to all current tenants that the prohibited provision is void or has been brought into compliance (or, for a missing MCL 554.634 statement, by supplying it); notice may be personal, or by first-class or certified mail to the premises. If the landlord does not cure within 20 days after the tenant's written notice identifying the provision and the reason it violates the Act, the tenant may sue to void the agreement and terminate, to enjoin future use and compel a cure notice to all affected tenants, and for damages of $250 per action or actual damages, whichever is greater — rising to $500 or actual damages where the claim is a missing MCL 554.634 statement or an explicitly and unambiguously prohibited clause. In listed circumstances (for example, a clause already adjudicated against this landlord) the tenant need not give the cure notice first. The practical lesson: audit any template lease against MCL 554.633 once, because a single void clause carried across a portfolio multiplies the per-action figure.

Michigan does not require a written lease for a tenancy under one year, but every rule in this section is a reason to use one — and to use a Michigan-specific one. A generic national template is the single most common source of MCL 554.633 violations.

What repairs and habitability duties does a Michigan landlord have?

The covenants (MCL 554.139(1)). In every lease or license of residential premises, the landlord covenants that the premises and all common areas are fit for the use intended by the parties, and covenants to keep the premises in reasonable repair during the term and to comply with the applicable health and safety laws of the state and the local unit of government — except where the disrepair or violation was caused by the tenant's willful or irresponsible conduct. The section is to be liberally construed, and a prospective tenant's opportunity to inspect before signing does not defeat the covenants (MCL 554.139(3)).

Modification is narrow. The parties may modify the MCL 554.139 obligations only where the lease has a current term of at least one year (MCL 554.139(2)). A clause in a month-to-month agreement or a shorter lease purporting to shift the repair duty wholesale to the tenant also collides with MCL 554.633's void-clause list. Read any "tenant accepts as-is and waives repairs" language in a short-term Michigan lease as void, not as a defense.

What the tenant can actually do. Michigan gives the tenant leverage, but not the self-help menu some guides describe:

• Defense in a possession case. Since Rome v. Walker, a landlord's breach of the habitability covenants can be raised in the summary proceeding itself; MCL 600.5720(1)(f) bars a possession judgment for nonpayment where the landlord committed a breach of the lease which excuses payment of rent.
• Escrow routes. MCL 600.5720(1)(g) recognizes rent paid into an escrow account under section 130 of the Housing Law of Michigan (MCL 125.530), paid under a court order under MCL 125.534(5), or paid to a receiver under MCL 125.535, as a bar to a possession judgment for that rent. These are court- and code-enforcement-supervised routes, typically triggered by a housing-inspection process — not a tenant simply deciding to stop paying.
• Code enforcement. Local housing codes (Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and others run their own inspection and rental-registration regimes) sit on top of MCL 554.139; a cited violation is both a compliance duty and evidence in any later possession case.
• Termination for serious conditions through the courts, and damages for breach of the covenants.

What Michigan does not have: a statute authorizing a tenant to hire a contractor and deduct the cost from rent up to a fixed dollar cap. Landlords who read a "$300 repair-and-deduct" rule in a national guide are reading another state's law. A tenant who unilaterally deducts a repair bill from rent without a court order or agreement is, on the landlord's side of the ledger, a tenant who has not paid rent in full — and a tenant who simply withholds without using a recognized escrow or defense invites a 7-day demand. Both sides should paper repair disputes in writing: notice of the condition, a reasonable time to repair (shorter for heat, water, and sewer failures), and records of access offered and refused.

How much notice must a Michigan landlord give before entering a rental?

Michigan has no statute setting a landlord entry-notice period — no 24-hour rule appears in MCL 554.139, the Truth in Renting Act, or the summary-proceedings chapter, whatever national guides claim. Entry is governed by the lease and by the tenant's right to quiet enjoyment. The workable standard, and the one to write into the lease, is: reasonable advance notice (24 hours is the market convention, not a statutory floor), at reasonable times, for repairs, inspection, and showing to prospective tenants or buyers, with true emergencies excepted.

Two statutory rails do exist. First, a lease clause purporting to let the landlord enter at any time for any reason, or waiving the tenant's MCL 600.2918 rights, is exposed under MCL 554.633. Second, MCL 600.2918(3)(b) protects the owner who interferes temporarily with possession only as necessary to make needed repairs or an inspection and only as provided by law — an entry that goes beyond that (changing locks without immediately providing keys, removing doors or windows, interrupting essential services) stops being an entry and becomes unlawful interference, priced in the next section.

How much notice is required to end a tenancy in Michigan? (MCL 554.134)

Termination notice in Michigan runs on the 1846 statute codified at MCL 554.134, and the period depends on the estate, not on the landlord's reason:

• Estate at will or by sufferance (including month-to-month): 1 month's notice from either party. If rent is payable at periods of less than 3 months, notice equal to the interval between payment times is sufficient — so a week-to-week tenancy takes a week's notice and a monthly tenancy takes a month. The notice is not void because it names a day that does not line up with a rental period; it terminates the tenancy at the end of a period equal to the payment interval (MCL 554.134(1)).
• Nonpayment: a tenant who neglects or refuses to pay rent may be terminated on a written 7-day notice to quit (MCL 554.134(2)) — the same 7 days as the MCL 600.5714(1)(a) demand for possession, and in practice the two are served as the statutory demand in the form prescribed by MCL 600.5716.
• Year-to-year: notice to quit given at any time, terminating the tenancy at the expiration of 1 year from service (MCL 554.134(3)). There is no shortcut for a year-to-year holdover.
• Controlled substances: where the lease contains a termination clause for unlawful manufacture, delivery, possession with intent, or possession of a controlled substance on the premises, and a formal police report has been filed, termination is on a written 24-hour notice to quit (MCL 554.134(4)).

A fixed-term lease simply ends on its term unless it auto-renews; a tenant who holds over after the term, after a lease power to terminate is exercised, or after a MCL 554.134 notice expires is the defendant in a summary proceeding under MCL 600.5714(1)(c).

How does a Michigan landlord evict a tenant through summary proceedings?

Eviction is a court process — summary proceedings under chapter 57 of the Revised Judicature Act, MCL 600.5701 et seq., heard in district court (Detroit cases go to the 36th District Court). Full walk-through: how to evict a tenant. The Michigan specifics:

Grounds and their notice periods (MCL 600.5714(1)). Possession may be recovered when a person:

• (a) Nonpayment: holds over after failing or refusing to pay rent due within 7 days from service of a written demand for possession. "Rent due" does not include accelerated indebtedness from a lease breach — a demand inflated with future rent is defective to that extent.
• (b) Controlled substances: holds over 24 hours after a written demand under a lease termination clause for unlawful controlled-substance activity on the premises, with a formal police report filed.
• (c) Holdover: holds over after termination of the lease under a power in the lease or implied by law, after the term expires, or after termination by a MCL 554.134 notice to quit. This is the vehicle for month-to-month terminations (1 month) and ordinary lease violations that the lease makes terminable — there is no separate generic "30-day notice for lease violations" in Michigan law; the period is the one the lease and MCL 554.134 produce.
• (d) Health hazard / injury to the premises: willfully or negligently causes a serious and continuing health hazard or extensive and continuing physical injury to the premises, discovered (or reasonably discoverable) not earlier than 90 days before the proceeding is filed, and neglects or refuses for 7 days after a demand either to deliver up possession or to substantially restore or repair.
• (e) Injury or threats: holds over 7 days after a written notice to quit where the tenant, a household member, or a person under the tenant's control caused or threatened physical injury to an individual on real property owned or operated by the landlord, and the police department with jurisdiction has been notified. The ground does not apply where the injured or threatened individual is the tenant or a household member, or where applying it would violate federal housing regulations.
• (f)–(h) Forcible entry, holding by force after peaceable entry, trespass without color of title, and holdover after mortgage/execution or estate sales.

Public-housing tenants and mobile-home-park tenants are not "holding over" under (b) or (c) unless the tenancy was terminated for just cause as those regimes define it (MCL 600.5714(2)–(3)).

Service (MCL 600.5718). The demand may be served by personal delivery to the person in possession; by personal delivery on the premises to a family or household member or employee of suitable age and discretion, with a request to deliver it; by first-class mail (service date is the next regular mail-delivery day after mailing); or by electronic service only where the person in possession has specifically consented in writing, with the consent confirmed by an affirmative electronic reply from the other party. A landlord may not refuse to enter a lease because a prospective tenant declines electronic-service consent.

Judgment and the writ (MCL 600.5741, 600.5744). In a nonpayment case the court states in the judgment the amount of rent in arrear. A writ of restitution — the court order under which a court officer, bailiff, sheriff or deputy, never the landlord, removes occupants and property — may not issue until 10 days after judgment, unless an immediate-writ ground in MCL 600.5744(3) is pleaded and proved with notice (for example: premises ordered vacated without the required housing certificate of compliance, forcible entry, trespass, the MCL 600.5714(1)(d) health-hazard ground, or the (1)(b) drug ground), or the longer land-contract forfeiture periods in MCL 600.5744(4) apply. An appeal or new-trial motion with a stay bond tolls the period. And in a money-based judgment, the writ must not issue if, within the time provided, the amount stated in the judgment with taxed costs is paid and other material breaches are cured (MCL 600.5744(7)) — Michigan's pay-and-stay backstop. A possession judgment does not merge or bar a separate civil action for damages (MCL 600.5750).

Timelines after filing vary by court and docket; Detroit's volume is notorious. What does not vary is the sequence — demand, filing, hearing, judgment, 10 days, writ — and a defect in the demand is the most common self-inflicted delay.

Self-help is priced per act: MCL 600.2918

Michigan's anti-lockout statute is the section landlords most often meet for the first time as a defendant. Its protections may not be waived (MCL 600.2918(7)), and a lease clause waiving them is separately void under the Truth in Renting Act.

• Forcible ejection (MCL 600.2918(1)): a person ejected or put out in a forcible and unlawful manner, or kept out by force after being ejected, recovers 3 times actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, in addition to recovering possession.
• Unlawful interference (MCL 600.2918(2)): a tenant whose possessory interest is unlawfully interfered with by the owner recovers actual damages or $200, whichever is greater, for each occurrence, and, where possession was lost, recovers possession. Interference includes: force or threat of force; removal, retention, or destruction of the tenant's personal property; changing, altering, or adding locks or security devices without immediately providing keys or unlocking devices; boarding the premises; removal of doors, windows, or locks; causing, by act or omission, the termination or interruption of an essential service the tenant procured or the landlord is duty-bound to furnish — heat, running water, hot water, electric, or gas — where the interruption would constitute constructive eviction; and introduction of noise, odor, or other nuisance.
• Exceptions (MCL 600.2918(3)): acting under a court order; temporary interference only as necessary for needed repairs or inspection and only as provided by law; a good-faith abandonment determination after diligent inquiry, with rent unpaid; and the detailed deceased-tenant procedure in MCL 600.2918(3)(d), which has its own notice and probate steps and is not a general re-entry right.
• Clocks: an action to regain possession must be commenced within 90 days after the cause of action arises or becomes known, and a damages action within 1 year (MCL 600.2918(8)).

The arithmetic is why lockouts are so expensive: each act is its own occurrence. Shutting off the electric on Monday and changing the locks on Tuesday is not one violation with a $200 floor — it is two occurrences, plus the tenant's actual damages measured against that floor for each, and any forcible ejection is trebled.

Retaliation: MCL 600.5720

A court may not enter a possession judgment where the termination was intended primarily as a penalty for the tenant's protected acts. MCL 600.5720(1) covers, in substance: attempting to secure or enforce rights under a lease or law; complaining to the landlord or a governmental agency about health/safety or housing-code conditions; joining or participating in a tenants' organization; and the landlord's attempt to increase the tenant's obligations as a penalty for those acts, where the tenant's failure to perform the added obligations is the primary reason for the termination. The same section bars judgment where the landlord's breach excuses the rent claimed, or where the rent was paid into a statutory escrow, paid under court order, or paid to a receiver.

The presumption does the practical work (MCL 600.5720(2)). If the tenant shows that within 90 days before the summary proceeding began, the tenant attempted to secure or enforce rights or to complain against the landlord by means of official action to or through a court or other governmental agency, and that action has not been dismissed or denied, retaliation is presumed — and the landlord must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the termination was not retaliation. If the tenant's act was more than 90 days before filing, or was terminated adversely to the tenant, the presumption runs the other way and the tenant bears the burden. File selection follows from this: a nonpayment case with a clean rent ledger is one thing; a no-fault termination served three weeks after a code complaint is a case the landlord starts a presumption down.

Discrimination, source of income, and screening

Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (MCL 37.2502). Michigan housing discrimination law covers race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, and marital status — a broader list than the federal Fair Housing Act (which adds disability, covered in Michigan by the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, MCL 37.1501 et seq.). Sexual orientation and gender identity or expression were added by 2023 PA 6, effective February 13, 2024. The Act's owner-occupied and small-building exemptions are narrower than many landlords assume; read MCL 37.2503 before relying on one.

Source of income (MCL 554.601c; MCL 37.2502(3)–(4)). Effective April 2, 2025 (2024 PA 178 and its companion acts), a landlord may not, based on the source of income of an otherwise eligible prospective or current tenant: deny or terminate a tenancy; discriminate in price, terms, conditions, fees, or privileges, or in facilities or services; make a unit unavailable or misrepresent its availability; discriminate based on the tenant's use of emergency rental assistance; exclude a rent voucher or subsidy from the calculation when applying an income threshold (emergency rental assistance excepted); discourage the rental; publish any communication indicating a source-of-income preference or limitation; help another person do any of the above; or coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with a person exercising these rights. Lawful sources expressly include housing choice vouchers, public assistance, veterans' benefits, Social Security and similar benefit or subsidy programs. The section does not apply to a person who, including all related entities, is a landlord of fewer than 5 rental units in Michigan — the threshold counts the portfolio, not the building, and related entities are aggregated by control. A small landlord under the threshold is exempt from this section, not from ELCRA, the Persons with Disabilities Act, or the federal Fair Housing Act. Screening criteria remain lawful if they are genuinely source-neutral: the voucher counts toward income, but the applicant must still meet the threshold on the combined figure and pass the same credit, rental-history, and other criteria applied to everyone.

Lead. Federal law requires disclosure of known lead-based paint hazards and the EPA pamphlet for pre-1978 housing, and Detroit and other cities layer registration, inspection, and lead-clearance duties on top. Treat the city regime where the property sits as part of the state analysis, not an afterthought.

Early release: two Michigan statutes landlords forget

Domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking (MCL 554.601b). A tenant who has a reasonable apprehension of present danger to the tenant or the tenant's child from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking may be released from the rental payment obligation on these mechanics:

• Written notice of intent to seek release, with the written statement of reasonable apprehension, submitted by certified mail, together with one of the listed documents: a valid personal protection order (or qualifying foreign protection order, or an order removing an abusive person from a home) in effect on the date of submittal; a probation, conditional release, or parole order in effect with a no-contact-type protective condition; a written police report that resulted in charges filed not more than 14 days before submittal; or a verification signed by a qualified third party (such as a domestic-violence or sexual-assault counselor, a licensed health professional, or a mental health professional) in the statutory form.
• The release takes effect no later than the first day of the second month that rent is due after notice is given — in practical terms the tenant owes at most one further monthly rent cycle after notice — and it does not take effect before the tenant vacates. Prepaid amounts are not refunded by the release, and the landlord's security-deposit rights under MCL 554.613(1)(d) and other law are preserved.
• If the lease does not contain the MCL 554.601b notice provision, the landlord must post the statutory notice in the property management office or deliver it in writing when the lease is signed. With multiple tenants, the release frees the protected tenant; the remaining tenants' obligations continue.

Senior housing / incapacity (MCL 554.601a). A rental agreement must provide that a tenant who has occupied the unit for more than 13 months may terminate on 60 days' written notice if the tenant becomes eligible during the term to take possession of a subsidized rental unit in senior citizen housing (with written proof of eligibility), or becomes incapable of living independently during the term, certified by a physician in a notarized statement. The section applies to leases entered into, renewed, or renegotiated after its effective date.

Federal law adds the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act early-termination right for active-duty orders; it operates alongside, not instead of, these two sections.

Detroit and other local regimes

State law is the floor, not the whole building. Detroit requires rental properties to be registered with the city and to pass inspection for a certificate of compliance, with lead-based paint clearance duties for older stock, and enforces through its buildings and safety engineering department; Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, and other cities run their own registration/inspection programs with their own cycles and fees. None of those regimes can set rents (MCL 123.411), and none can dilute the state deposit, Truth in Renting, or summary-proceedings rules — but a missing certificate can be pleaded in the possession case itself, including as an immediate-writ and defense issue under MCL 600.5744(3)(a) and MCL 600.5720. Verify the current city requirements for the specific property before acquisition, not after the first citation.

Compliance checklist

1. Cap the deposit at 1.5 months' rent across everything refundable, and never stack a separate pet deposit on top (MCL 554.602).

2. Send the MCL 554.603 notice within 14 days after possession: landlord name/address, institution or surety, forwarding-address duty, statutory boldface statement.

3. Bank it or bond it — regulated financial institution, or a secretary-of-state bond before any use of the funds (MCL 554.604).

4. Run both checklists — two blank commencement copies, tenant's copy back within 7 days, termination checklist completed by you, and never claim a prior tenant's checklist damage (MCL 554.608; MCL 554.609(2)).

5. Audit the lease against MCL 554.633 — remove every void clause, add the MCL 554.634 name/address and 12-point Truth in Renting notice, and make at least one rent-payment method fee-free (2026 PA 103).

6. Calendar the deposit clocks at move-out — forwarding address day 4, itemized notice day 30 (balance by check/money order or electronically within 10 days after mailing, 2026 PA 102), dispute window 7 days from receipt, suit-or-return day 45.

7. Write the MCL 554.139 standard into operations — fit for intended use, reasonable repair, code compliance; document condition notices, response times, and access.

8. Use the right notice for the ground — 7-day demand for nonpayment, 1 month for month-to-month termination, 1 year for year-to-year, 24 hours only for the police-reported drug ground, 7 days to cure-or-quit on the health-hazard ground — and serve it by a MCL 600.5718 method.

9. Never self-help — no lock changes without immediate keys, no utility interruption, no property removal; possession changes hands only on a writ executed by a court officer after the 10-day post-judgment wait.

10. Screen source-neutrally — if you and your related entities hold 5 or more Michigan units, count vouchers and subsidies toward income thresholds and keep source-of-income language out of listings and criteria (MCL 554.601c).

The bottom line

Michigan rewards procedural landlords. The deposit is 1.5 months, banked or bonded, noticed in 14 days, itemized in 30 days, disputable in 7, and litigated or refunded by day 45 — with forfeiture, waiver, and double damages assigned to three distinct failures. The lease itself is regulated: the Truth in Renting Act mandates two statements, voids 15 categories of clauses, and since September 21, 2026 requires at least one fee-free way to pay rent, while 2026 PA 102 lets the deposit balance come back electronically within 10 days after the notice is mailed. Habitability is a statutory covenant (MCL 554.139) enforced as a defense in the eviction case, not a repair-and-deduct statute. Termination periods live in MCL 554.134 — a month, a year, 7 days, or 24 hours depending on the estate and the ground — and possession moves only through summary proceedings, a judgment, a 10-day wait, and an officer's writ. Self-help is priced per occurrence under MCL 600.2918, retaliation is presumed off a 90-day official complaint under MCL 600.5720, and since April 2, 2025 a landlord of five or more units screens source-of-income-blind under MCL 554.601c. Get the deposit clocks, the lease audit, and the notice selection right, and Michigan's speed works for you instead of against you.

See also: Michigan security deposit law, Security Deposit Deadline Finder, how to evict a tenant.

FAQ

What is the maximum security deposit in Michigan?

1.5 months' rent (MCL 554.602). On $1,200 rent the ceiling is $1,800, and every refundable deposit charge — including anything labeled a pet deposit — counts toward that one total. Check a planned deposit against Michigan's 1.5-month cap with the Security Deposit Max Checker, which returns a compliant or over-the-limit verdict for the amount and state you enter.

How long does a Michigan landlord have to return a security deposit?

The itemized notice of damages must be mailed within 30 days after termination of occupancy, accompanied by a check or money order for the balance — or, since 2026 PA 102, the balance may be paid by direct deposit or electronic transfer within 10 days after mailing the notice (MCL 554.609). That is not the end of the clocks: if the tenant disputes an item in detail within 7 days after receipt, the landlord must sue for the disputed amount or return it within 45 days after termination of occupancy, and not thereafter (MCL 554.613(1)).

Is a move-in checklist legally required in Michigan, and does skipping it forfeit deductions?

Yes, checklists are required at both commencement and termination (MCL 554.608) — two blank copies to the tenant at move-in, the tenant's copy back within 7 days after possession, and a termination checklist completed by the landlord. But the Act contains no "no checklist, no deductions" bar. The real forfeitures are elsewhere: claiming damage that was on a prior tenant's termination checklist is barred (MCL 554.609(2)), missing the 30-day notice means no damages are due at all (MCL 554.610), and missing the 45-day suit-or-return deadline waives the claim and pays double the amount retained (MCL 554.613(2)).

How much notice must a Michigan landlord give to enter a rental unit?

No Michigan statute sets a period. Entry is governed by the lease and quiet-enjoyment law; 24 hours' reasonable notice at reasonable times is the market convention to write into the lease, not a statutory requirement. What is statutory is the boundary: an entry that changes locks without immediately providing keys, removes doors or windows, or interrupts essential services becomes unlawful interference under MCL 600.2918, at actual damages or $200 per occurrence.

How fast can a Michigan landlord evict for nonpayment?

The demand is 7 days (MCL 600.5714(1)(a); MCL 554.134(2)), served by a MCL 600.5718 method. After that the landlord files summary proceedings in district court; after a possession judgment, a writ of restitution generally may not issue for 10 days (MCL 600.5744(5)), and paying the judgment amount plus taxed costs within the time provided stops the writ (MCL 600.5744(7)). Only a court officer executes the writ. Hearing dates vary by court — Detroit's 36th District Court volume is the usual bottleneck — so "7-day eviction" describes the notice, not the whole case. To run these same dates for your own case — the 7-day demand under MCL 600.5714(1)(a), service under MCL 600.5718, and the 10-day wait before a writ of restitution may issue under MCL 600.5744(5) — use the Eviction Timeline Calculator.

Can a Michigan tenant repair and deduct, or withhold rent?

There is no Michigan statute authorizing repair-and-deduct up to a dollar cap — the "$300 or one month's rent" figure in national guides is not Michigan law. The tenant's remedies are the habitability defense in the possession case (MCL 600.5720(1)(f); Rome v. Walker), the supervised escrow and receivership routes recognized in MCL 600.5720(1)(g) (MCL 125.530, 125.534(5), 125.535), code enforcement, damages, and court-ordered relief. A tenant who simply stops paying or deducts a contractor's bill without one of those routes risks a 7-day nonpayment demand.

Can a Michigan landlord refuse an applicant who pays with a housing voucher?

If the landlord, including all related entities, has 5 or more rental units in Michigan, no — not because of the voucher. Since April 2, 2025, MCL 554.601c bars denying or terminating a tenancy, imposing different terms or fees, advertising a source-of-income preference, or excluding a voucher or subsidy when calculating whether the applicant meets an income threshold. Landlords under the 5-unit threshold are exempt from that section (but not from other civil-rights laws), and all landlords may still apply the same source-neutral screening criteria to every applicant.

Must a Michigan landlord offer a fee-free way to pay rent?

Yes, since September 21, 2026. Under 2026 PA 103, a rental agreement may not impose an additional charge or fee on all methods of paying rent allowed under the agreement; if more than one method is allowed, at least one must be usable without an extra charge (MCL 554.633(1)(o)). Fees on optional methods remain allowed — a fee on every method is the void clause.

What lease clauses are void in Michigan?

The 15 categories in MCL 554.633(1)(a)–(o): civil-rights exclusions, waivers of summary-proceedings or anti-lockout rights, confessions of judgment, clauses excusing the landlord from legal duties, jury-trial waivers, attorney's-fee provisions beyond what a statute permits, security interests in the tenant's personal property, rent acceleration without mitigation language and court determination, waivers of Security Deposit Act rights or of the duty to mitigate, clauses requiring rent while the premises violate health and safety law or waiving the MCL 554.139 covenants outside that section's own exception, Consumer Protection Act violations, powers of attorney for the landlord, and — since 2026 — a fee on every rent-payment method. A void clause exposes the landlord, after a 20-day cure window, to $250 per action or actual damages ($500 for a missing MCL 554.634 statement or an explicitly prohibited clause) under MCL 554.636.

Can a Michigan tenant break a lease for domestic violence or a move to senior housing?

Yes, on two different statutes. For domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, MCL 554.601b releases the tenant from the rental payment obligation after certified-mail notice with one of the listed documents (a protection order, a qualifying probation/parole order, a police report with charges filed within 14 days, or a qualified third-party verification); the release is effective no later than the first day of the second month rent is due after notice and only once the tenant vacates. For senior housing or incapacity, MCL 554.601a requires the lease to allow a tenant who has occupied the unit more than 13 months to terminate on 60 days' written notice on becoming eligible for subsidized senior housing or incapable of living independently, certified by a physician's notarized statement.

Is rent control legal in Michigan?

No. There is no state rent control, and MCL 123.411 prohibits a local governmental unit from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing an ordinance controlling rents on private residential property, with carve-outs only for property the unit itself owns and for voluntary incentive programs.

Primary sources

• MCL 554.602 (Michigan Legislature) — deposit cap: no more than 1.5 months' rent.
• MCL 554.603 (Michigan Legislature) — the 14-day written notice: landlord, financial institution or surety, forwarding-address duty.
• MCL 554.604 (Michigan Legislature) — deposit in a regulated financial institution; use only with a secretary-of-state bond.
• MCL 554.608 (Michigan Legislature) — inventory checklists at commencement and termination.
• MCL 554.609 (Michigan Legislature) — the 30-day itemized notice; electronic payment of the balance within 10 days after mailing (2026 PA 102).
• MCL 554.610 (Michigan Legislature) — missing the notice deadline is an agreement that no damages are due.
• MCL 554.613 (Michigan Legislature) — the 45-day suit-or-return rule; waiver plus double the amount retained.
• MCL 554.139 (Michigan Legislature) — habitability covenants: fit for intended use, reasonable repair, health and safety compliance; modification only on a current term of at least one year.
• MCL 554.134 (Michigan Legislature) — termination notices: 1 month (at will), 7 days (nonpayment), 1 year (year-to-year), 24 hours (police-reported controlled substances).
• MCL 554.633 (Michigan Legislature) — void lease provisions, including subsection (1)(o), the all-methods rent-payment fee added by 2026 PA 103.
• MCL 554.634 (Michigan Legislature) — mandatory lease statements: landlord's name/address for notice and the 12-point Truth in Renting notice.
• MCL 554.635 (Michigan Legislature) — cure of Truth in Renting violations by notice to all current tenants.
• MCL 554.636 (Michigan Legislature) — tenant remedies after the 20-day cure window: $250 / $500 per action or actual damages.
• MCL 554.601a (Michigan Legislature) — 60-day termination after 13+ months for subsidized senior housing eligibility or incapacity.
• MCL 554.601b (Michigan Legislature) — release from rental obligation for reasonable apprehension of present danger from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
• MCL 554.601c (Michigan Legislature) — source-of-income discrimination barred; fewer-than-5-units exemption; effective April 2, 2025 (2024 PA 178).
• MCL 37.2502 (Michigan Legislature) — Elliott-Larsen housing discrimination, including source of income at subsections (3)–(4).
• MCL 123.411 (Michigan Legislature) — local rent-control ordinances on private residential property prohibited.
• MCL 600.5714 (Michigan Legislature) — summary-proceedings grounds and notice periods: 7 days, 24 hours, holdover, health hazard, injury/threats.
• MCL 600.5718 (Michigan Legislature) — service of the demand: personal, household member/employee, first-class mail, consented electronic service.
• MCL 600.5744 (Michigan Legislature) — writ of restitution: the 10-day wait, immediate-writ grounds, and the pay-and-cure bar.
• MCL 600.5720 (Michigan Legislature) — retaliation and other bars to a possession judgment; the 90-day presumption.
• MCL 600.2918 (Michigan Legislature) — anti-lockout: 3× actual damages or $200 for forcible ejection; actual damages or $200 per occurrence for unlawful interference; exceptions; 90-day / 1-year filing clocks.

More landlord-tenant law guides

• Landlord-tenant law by state
• Massachusetts landlord-tenant law
• Minnesota landlord-tenant law
• Maryland landlord-tenant law
• Mississippi landlord-tenant law

This is general information, not legal advice. Detroit has local rental requirements — consult a Michigan landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.