Free Michigan Landlord Forms
Every Michigan landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the MCL section that triggers it and the correct SCAO court form number that comes next.
Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Michigan tenancies run on MCL 554.131 to 554.139 and the Truth in Renting Act, with deposits at MCL 554.601 to 554.616 and summary proceedings in Revised Judicature Act chapter 57. Michigan searchers overwhelmingly want court forms by number — and the state judiciary’s own index is built in a way that machines cannot read, which is why the numbers circulate wrong.
The short version
- Nonpayment of rent — seven days. Use SCAO form DC 100a, not DC 100c.
- Michigan has exactly ONE twenty-four-hour ground, and it is controlled substances. The health-hazard ground is seven days.
- There is no statutory cure period for a general lease violation.
- There is no landlord entry statute at all. What constrains entry is the anti-self-help rule, at two hundred dollars per occurrence.
- Mailing a demand adds ONE day, not three — service is complete on the next regular mail delivery day.
- Certified mail is not an authorised method for a demand for possession.
- The deposit runs on a five-link chain: 14, 4, 30, 7 and 45 days. Miss the thirtieth and you agree no damages are due.
- Source-of-income discrimination became unlawful on 2 April 2025 — but not for landlords with fewer than five units statewide.
The SCAO Form Numbers, Corrected
This is the most useful thing on the page, because the numbers in circulation are wrong — including on pages that rank well for Michigan form queries.
| Form | What it actually is |
|---|---|
| DC 100a | Demand for Possession, Nonpayment of Rent. This is the pay-or-quit form |
| DC 100b | Demand for Possession, Damage / Health Hazard to Property |
| DC 100c | Notice to Quit to Recover Possession of Property. Not the nonpayment demand |
| DC 100d | Demand for Possession, Termination of Tenancy |
| DC 102a | Complaint, Nonpayment of Rent |
| DC 104 | Summons, Landlord-Tenant |
| DC 105 | Judgment, Landlord-Tenant |
| DC 107 | Application and Order of Eviction — this is the “writ” |
A widely repeated error: “use DC 100c for nonpayment”. DC 100c is the Notice to Quit to Recover Possession of Property. Nonpayment is DC 100a; damage or health hazard is DC 100b. Serving the wrong instrument is a straightforward way to lose a case on a technicality.
A second terminology trap sits at the other end. The statute says “writ of restitution”; the court rules and the form say “order of eviction”. They are the same instrument — DC 107 — but if you go looking for a “writ” in the form index you will not find one.
We give these as form identifiers we located rather than documents we could read end to end, because the PDFs would not open to automated reading. We publish no revision dates for them for the same reason.
Notice Periods, and the 24-Hour Ground That Is Only One Ground
| Ground | Notice | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Nonpayment of rent | 7 days | MCL 554.134(2); 600.5714(1)(a) |
| Controlled substances — the only 24-hour ground | 24 hours | MCL 554.134(4); 600.5714(1)(b) |
| Serious and continuing health hazard, or extensive and continuing physical injury to the premises | 7 days — satisfied by delivering possession or by substantially restoring or repairing | MCL 600.5714(1)(d) |
| Physical injury or threat to a person | 7 days; the police must have been notified | MCL 600.5714(1)(e) |
| Tenancy at will or by sufferance | 1 month — or, where rent is payable at periods of less than 3 months, a period equal to the interval between payments | MCL 554.134(1) |
| Year-to-year | 1 year from the time of service; notice may be given at any time | MCL 554.134(3) |
Michigan has exactly one twenty-four-hour ground, and it is not the health hazard. MCL 554.134(4) is the controlled-substance provision, and it requires both a lease clause providing for termination on that ground and a formal police report alleging that the person unlawfully manufactured, delivered, possessed with intent to deliver, or possessed a controlled substance on the leased premises. The health-hazard ground is seven days, at a different statute entirely, and it has a built-in cure — the tenant may repair instead of leaving.
One further limit on the health-hazard route: the hazard must have been discovered, or reasonably discoverable, not earlier than ninety days before proceedings begin.
Michigan gives no statutory cure period for a general lease violation. A lease breach reaches summary proceedings only through MCL 600.5714(1)(c)(i) — holding over after termination pursuant to a power to terminate provided in the lease or implied by law. Whatever cure right exists comes from your lease. See our Michigan eviction notice laws guide.
A mis-dated notice is saved, not void. MCL 554.134(1) provides that notice “is not void because it states a day for the termination of the tenancy that does not correspond to the conclusion or commencement of a rental period. The notice terminates the tenancy at the end of a period equal in length to the interval between times of payment.” Most states would void it; Michigan reinterprets it.
Every Michigan Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy
An alphabetical list is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. The index below is ordered by where you are in the tenancy.
Starting the tenancy
- Michigan residential lease agreement — the master document, and in Michigan it is policed harder than in most states. The Truth in Renting Act voids fourteen categories of clause and requires a specific notice paragraph. See below.
- Lead-based paint form — required by federal law, not Michigan law, for any dwelling built before 1978.
- Move-in / move-out condition checklist — this is the statutory inventory checklist, and the statute says the landlord shall use one at both ends of the tenancy. See below.
During the tenancy
- Notice to enter the property — Michigan has no entry statute, so this document exists to honour the lease and to build a record against the anti-self-help rule.
- Rent increase notice — Michigan has no rent control. On a tenancy at will the constraint is the one-month, or interval-length, notice period.
- Late rent notice — a courtesy reminder, and one to keep separate from the rent figure in a demand for possession.
- Abandoned Property
- Month-to-Month Rental Agreement
- Roommate Agreement
- Sublease Agreement
When the tenant breaches
- Seven-day notice to pay rent or quit — the MCL 554.134(2) demand, equivalent to SCAO form DC 100a.
- Notice to cure or quit — for a lease breach, where the cure period comes from your lease rather than from statute.
- Unconditional quit notice — for the health-hazard, physical-injury and controlled-substance grounds.
Ending the tenancy without fault
- Notice of non-renewal — one month, or a period equal to the interval between rent payments where that is shorter than three months.
- Tenant notice to vacate — the same period, since MCL 554.134(1) binds either party.
After the tenant moves out
- Security deposit itemisation — the itemised list of damages, with the estimated cost of repair of each item, and it must carry a specific boldface warning. See below.
- Security deposit return letter — and note the list must be accompanied by a cheque or money order for the difference.
The Deposit Chain: Fourteen, Four, Thirty, Seven, Forty-Five
Michigan’s deposit rules are a sequence of short deadlines, each with its own consequence. Summaries that mention only “thirty days” are describing one link of five.
| Step | Deadline | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord’s written notice to the tenant — three required items, see below | 14 days from the date the tenant assumes possession | MCL 554.603 |
| Tenant’s written forwarding address | 4 days after termination of occupancy | MCL 554.611 |
| Landlord MAILS the itemised list of damages, with the estimated cost of repair of each item, accompanied by a cheque or money order for the difference | 30 days after termination of occupancy | MCL 554.609 |
| Tenant’s response by ordinary mail, in detail; the date of mailing counts as the date of response | 7 days after receipt | MCL 554.612 |
| Landlord commences an action for a money judgment | 45 days after termination of occupancy and not thereafter | MCL 554.613(1) |
Missing the thirty days is not a fine — it is an admission. MCL 554.610: failure to comply with the notice-of-damages requirement within thirty days “constitutes agreement by the landlord that no damages are due and he shall remit to the tenant immediately the full security deposit”.
And the double-damages rule is narrower than people quote. MCL 554.613: failure to comply fully with that section “constitutes waiver of all claimed damages and makes him liable to the tenant for double the amount of the security deposit retained” — double the amount retained, not double the whole deposit. Two different failures, two different consequences.
The fourteen-day notice has three required items, not one. Under MCL 554.603 the landlord must give the tenant, in a written instrument, (i) the landlord’s name and address for receipt of communications, (ii) the name and address of the financial institution or surety, and (iii) the tenant’s obligation to provide a forwarding address in writing within four days after termination. It must also carry a legend in twelve-point boldface, at least four points larger than the body, warning the tenant of that four-day duty. The sanction for omitting the notice is not a penalty either — it relieves the tenant of the forwarding-address obligation, which kills the landlord’s best defence.
The thirty-day list carries its own mandatory boldface legend: “You must respond to this notice by mail within 7 days after receipt of same, otherwise you will forfeit the amount claimed for damages.”
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Cap | One and a half months’ rent, MCL 554.602. The definition is broad and sweeps in prepaid rent other than the first full period |
| Where it sits | A regulated financial institution — or the landlord may use the money freely on depositing a cash or surety bond with the Secretary of State securing the entire deposits up to fifty thousand dollars and twenty-five per cent of any amount above that |
| Whose money it is | “the security deposit is considered the lawful property of the tenant until the landlord establishes a right to the deposit”, MCL 554.605 |
| Permitted uses (exclusive) | Actual damages that are “the direct result of conduct not reasonably expected in the normal course of habitation”; rent in arrearage; rent for premature termination; and unpaid utility bills. A late fee is not on that list |
| Interest | No statute — the 1972 act contains no interest provision |
| Enforcement | The Attorney General or any affected individual may bring an action. The requirements may not be waived |
See our Michigan security deposit laws guide.
Michigan Has No Entry Statute — So What Stops You?
There is no Michigan statute prescribing notice before landlord entry. No twenty-four-hour rule, no “reasonable times” rule. The Truth in Renting Act contains no entry provision; MCL 554.139 covers only fitness and repair; the deposit act is silent. The state judiciary’s own bench book carries no entry material either.
What actually constrains entry is the anti-self-help statute, MCL 600.2918(2), and it bites hard: the tenant recovers “actual damages or $200.00, whichever is greater, for each occurrence” — expressly including changing, altering or adding to the locks, boarding the premises, removing doors, windows or locks, and causing termination or interruption of essential services including heat, running water, hot water, electricity or gas. Forcible ejection carries three times actual damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater, plus possession.
The provisions may not be waived. A possession action runs for ninety days; a damages action for a year.
There are safe harbours: a court order; temporary interference necessary for repairs; a good-faith belief of abandonment after diligent inquiry with rent unpaid; and a defined protocol where a tenant has died. See our Michigan landlord entry laws guide.
The Truth in Renting Act: Fourteen Void Clauses and a Twenty-Day Fix
This is the Michigan-specific layer that most forms pages skip entirely, and it applies only to written rental agreements — and not to agreements entered into before 1 July 1979.
MCL 554.633 voids a rental agreement provision that: waives habitability remedies; waives deposit rights; discriminates contrary to the Elliott-Larsen or Persons with Disabilities civil rights acts; authorises a confession of judgment; exculpates the lessor from failure or negligent performance of a legal duty; waives a jury trial or any other right of notice or procedure required by law; imposes attorney fees or legal costs in excess of what statute specifically permits; takes a security interest in the tenant’s personal property; accelerates rent without also stating the mitigation duty and the right to have a court determine the actual amount owed; releases a party from the duty to mitigate damages; allows unilateral mid-term alteration without the tenant’s written consent; violates the Michigan Consumer Protection Act; or requires the tenant to give a power of attorney.
The lease must also carry a specific notice, in a prominent place and in at least twelve-point type: “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.”
But there is a twenty-day escape. Liability attaches only if the landlord “fails to cure the violation… within 20 days after the tenant gives written notice”. Curing means writing to all current tenants that the provision is void and unenforceable, or altering it into compliance. Uncured, a prohibited clause costs two hundred and fifty dollars or actual damages, whichever is greater; a missing required provision, or a clause explicitly and unambiguously prohibited, costs five hundred dollars or actual damages. Costs and statutory attorney fees go to whichever party prevails.
One more thing worth knowing if you buy lease templates: a printed form that violates the Act may not lawfully be offered for sale in Michigan, and the seller is liable to a purchaser sued by a tenant.
Serving a Demand: Four Methods, and Mail Adds One Day
MCL 600.5718(1) permits exactly four methods: personal delivery to the person in possession; personal delivery on the premises to a family or household member or employee of suitable age and discretion, with a request to deliver it; first-class mail; and electronic service with prior specific written consent.
Certified mail is not on that list. It feels like the safe option and it is not an authorised method for a demand for possession.
And mailing does not add three days. “If the demand is mailed, the date of service for purposes of this chapter is the next regular day for delivery of mail after the day when it was mailed” — typically one day, not three. Landlords importing a three-day rule from other states give away two days on every mailed demand.
Electronic service requires the tenant to have “specifically consented” in writing, and the consent or its confirmation must have been affirmatively replied to by electronic transmission. And there is an anti-coercion rule: “A landlord shall not refuse to enter a lease because the prospective tenant declines to consent to electronic service.”
The demand itself must be in writing, addressed to the person in possession, give the address or a brief description of the premises, state the reasons for the demand and the time to take remedial action clearly, state the amount due at the time of the demand where it is for nonpayment, and be dated and signed. Note also that “rent due” for these purposes “does not include any accelerated indebtedness because of a breach of the lease” — so late fees and accelerated rent do not belong in the demand figure.
Court, Costs and the Two Fifty-Six-Day Clocks
Summary proceedings are heard in the district court. The small claims limit is seven thousand dollars from 1 January 2024. The eviction filing fee is forty-five dollars where the complaint is for recovery of possession only; adding a money claim adds a supplemental fee on a sliding scale, and a jury demand is fifty dollars.
| Stage | Rule |
|---|---|
| Summons | Commands appearance within 10 days of issuance, served not less than 3 days before the date set |
| Hearing | “shall be heard within 7 days after the defendant’s appearance or trial date and shall not be adjourned beyond that time other than by stipulation”. Controlled-substance cases may not be adjourned except for extraordinary reasons |
| Stay before the writ | “a writ of restitution must not be issued until the expiration of 10 days after the entry of the judgment for possession” |
| Immediate-writ exceptions | Six: no certificate of compliance with the premises ordered vacated; forcible entry contrary to law; peaceable entry but possession unlawfully held by force; trespass without colour of title; the serious and continuing health hazard ground; and controlled-substance actions |
| Redemption | No writ if the judgment amount plus taxed costs is paid to the plaintiff within the time provided |
| The writ’s life | Issued no later than 56 days after entry of the possession judgment, and executed no later than 56 days after issuance. Extendable only after a hearing on notice |
The physical-injury ground is NOT on the immediate-writ list. It carries the full ten-day stay even though it shares a seven-day notice period with the health-hazard ground. Two grounds that look alike at the notice stage behave differently at the writ stage.
And the landlord does not decide when property is abandoned. MCL 600.5744(2) provides that abandonment “must be determined by the officer, bailiff, sheriff, or deputy sheriff serving the writ”. The officer removes occupants and property and either leaves it in an area open to the public or the public right-of-way, or delivers it to the sheriff as authorised.
Mobile Home Parks Are a Different Regime
If you operate a mobile home park, most of the above does not apply cleanly. Just cause is required — “The tenancy of a tenant in a mobile home park shall not be terminated unless there is just cause” — on eleven enumerated grounds, and a tenant is not treated as holding over unless the tenancy was terminated for just cause under that chapter.
One ground has a mandatory warning attached. Where the ground is “failure of the tenant to make timely payment of rent or other charges on 3 or more occasions during any 12-month period”, the demand must carry this line: “Notice: Three or more late payments of rent during any 12-month period is just cause to evict you.” Public housing operated by a city, village, township or other local unit carries the same just-cause bar.
What Changed in 2024, and When It Started
Source-of-income discrimination became unlawful in Michigan on 2 April 2025 under new MCL 554.601c. It prohibits denying or terminating a tenancy, differential price, terms, conditions or fees, misrepresenting availability, discouraging rental, discriminatory advertising, and coercion or retaliation — and, specifically, requiring an income threshold while excluding a rent voucher or subsidy from the calculation.
But it does not apply to everyone. The exemption is verbatim: “This section does not apply to a person if the person, including all related entities to that person, is a landlord of fewer than 5 rental units in this state.” Note “including all related entities” — you cannot split a portfolio across LLCs to stay under five.
The remedy sits at MCL 554.601d: injunctive relief and/or “actual damages… or up to 3 times the monthly rent for the rental unit or units at issue, whichever is less”, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees — and it is brought in circuit court, not district court.
Against that, the core landlord-tenant machinery is remarkably stable. The security deposit act has not been amended since 1972, effective April 1973 — fifty-three years. MCL 554.134 was last amended in 2012, MCL 600.5714 in 2014, MCL 600.5744 in 2019, and MCL 600.5718 in 2015. No 2025 or 2026 public act amends any of the sections on this page.
One bill is close enough to matter: Senate Bill 22 of 2025 would allow deposit refunds by direct deposit or electronic transfer instead of a cheque. It passed the Senate thirty-six to nil in July 2026 and went to a House committee, where it remains. It is not law, so the cheque or money order requirement stands.
Which Michigan Form Do I Need?
- The tenant has not paid rent. Seven-day demand — DC 100a. Keep late fees and accelerated rent out of the figure.
- There is a serious and continuing health hazard, or extensive damage. Seven days, and the tenant may satisfy it by repairing rather than leaving.
- Someone has been physically injured or threatened. Seven days, with the police notified — and note this ground does not get an immediate writ.
- There is a controlled-substance issue. Twenty-four hours — but only with a lease clause and a formal police report.
- A lease term has been broken. Whatever your lease provides; the statute gives no cure period.
- Nobody is at fault and you want the tenancy to end. One month, or the interval between rent payments where that is under three months.
- You need to get into the property. Whatever the lease says — and remember the two-hundred-dollar-per-occurrence exposure for anything resembling self-help.
- The tenant has moved out. Work the chain: fourteen days at move-in, four days for their address, thirty days for your list and cheque, seven days for their reply, forty-five days to sue.
How to Fill Out a Michigan Seven-Day Demand
- Use the right instrument. Nonpayment is DC 100a, not DC 100c.
- Address it to the person in possession and give the address or a brief description of the premises.
- State the amount due at the time of the demand — rent only, without accelerated indebtedness.
- State the reasons and the time to take remedial action clearly. The statute requires both.
- Date it and sign it.
- Serve it one of the four permitted ways. Not by certified mail.
- If you mail it, count one day — service is the next regular mail delivery day, not three days later.
- Diarise the case — summons returnable within ten days of issuance, served at least three days before; hearing within seven days of the appearance date; then the ten-day stay before the writ.
What Happens If the Form Is Wrong
The distinctively Michigan error is using DC 100c for nonpayment. It is the wrong document for the ground, and the numbering is wrong on pages that rank well for exactly this query.
The second is serving by certified mail, which is not one of the four authorised methods.
The third is a fourteen-day notice that gives only the landlord’s address, omitting the financial institution or surety and the tenant’s four-day duty — which forfeits your forwarding-address defence before the tenancy has properly begun.
And the fourth is the thirtieth day. Missing it is not a penalty; it is an agreement that no damages are due, and the full deposit goes back immediately.
What This Page Does Not Have
We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Michigan landlords also commonly want a rental application, a month-to-month agreement, a sublease, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a standalone notice of damages, a tenant forwarding-address notice, a truth-in-renting notice, a rent receipt, a pet addendum and an adverse action notice. Those are not published here as Michigan-specific forms.
We have also deliberately omitted: revision dates for any SCAO form; the exact printed titles as they appear on the form faces; whether a bare “DC 102” exists as distinct from DC 102a; and the verbatim text of the court rules, whose fifty-six-day figures we take from the judiciary’s own bench book rather than from the rule text. We also give no view on whether non-refundable fees are lawful — the statutory definition sweeps in “any other money or property returnable to the tenant on condition of return of the rental unit”, and how that applies to a given fee is a question for a lawyer.
One jurisdictional caution. Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Detroit and Ypsilanti all operate their own rental ordinances, which may add registration, entry-notice or fee requirements on top of everything here. Every statutory absence stated on this page is a state-law absence. Check your municipality.
Common Michigan Landlord Form Mistakes
- Using DC 100c for nonpayment. It is DC 100a.
- Believing the health-hazard notice is twenty-four hours. It is seven days; only controlled substances get twenty-four.
- Serving a twenty-four-hour notice with no lease clause or no police report. Both are required.
- Serving by certified mail. Not an authorised method.
- Adding three days for mailing. It is the next regular mail delivery day.
- Rolling late fees or accelerated rent into the demand figure.
- Sending an email demand without specific prior written consent and an affirmative electronic reply.
- Refusing to lease because an applicant declined electronic service. Expressly prohibited.
- Giving a fourteen-day notice with only one of the three required items, or without the boldface legend.
- Skipping the inventory checklist, which the statute says the landlord shall use at both ends.
- Sending the thirty-day list without a cheque or money order.
- Deducting a late fee from the deposit. It is not a permitted use.
- Suing after the forty-fifth day. The statute says “and not thereafter”.
- Putting a jury-waiver, confession-of-judgment, mitigation-waiver or power-of-attorney clause in the lease.
- Ignoring a Truth in Renting complaint. You have twenty days to cure before liability attaches.
- Assuming the source-of-income rules do not reach you because each LLC holds few units. Related entities are counted together.
- Deciding for yourself that property is abandoned. The serving officer decides.
Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Michigan Form Sites
Michigan is the one state in this project whose top result is the state judiciary’s own form index — and that index is built in a way that machines cannot read, which is a large part of why the form numbers circulate wrong. The deepest measured commercial ranker is about two thousand two hundred and ninety words, and like several states in this set it is a law page rather than a form list.
The gap is the map between them: which of your documents corresponds to which SCAO number, and what the statute behind each one actually requires. That is what this page is for, and it is worth more than another copy of a generic lease.
Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first — and if you hold five or more units, screen within the source-of-income rules that took effect in April 2025.
Michigan Landlord Forms: FAQ
How many days is a Michigan notice to pay rent or quit?
Seven days. MCL 554.134(2): “If a tenant neglects or refuses to pay rent on a lease at will or otherwise, the landlord may terminate the tenancy by giving the tenant a written 7-day notice to quit.” The corresponding SCAO court form is DC 100a, Demand for Possession, Nonpayment of Rent.
Which SCAO form is the Michigan nonpayment demand?
DC 100a. DC 100c is the Notice to Quit to Recover Possession of Property, and DC 100b is the damage or health hazard demand. Pages telling you to use DC 100c for nonpayment are wrong. Note also that the statute says “writ of restitution” while the court rules and the form say “order of eviction” — both mean DC 107.
Is Michigan’s health hazard notice twenty-four hours?
No, it is seven days, under MCL 600.5714(1)(d), and it may be satisfied by substantially restoring or repairing the premises rather than by leaving. Michigan has exactly one twenty-four-hour ground — controlled substances under MCL 554.134(4) — and it requires both a lease clause providing for termination on that ground and a formal police report.
Does Michigan give a tenant time to cure a lease violation?
No statutory cure period exists. Chapter 57 contains no cure-or-quit ground; a lease breach reaches summary proceedings only through MCL 600.5714(1)(c)(i), holding over after termination pursuant to a power to terminate provided in the lease or implied by law. Any cure right comes from the lease.
How much notice must a Michigan landlord give before entering?
Michigan has no entry statute at all — no notice period and no permitted hours. What constrains entry is MCL 600.2918(2), which gives the tenant actual damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater, for each occurrence of unlawful interference, expressly including changing locks, boarding the premises, removing doors or windows, and interrupting heat, water, hot water, electricity or gas. It may not be waived.
Does Michigan add days when a demand is mailed?
Yes, but only one. “If the demand is mailed, the date of service… is the next regular day for delivery of mail after the day when it was mailed”, MCL 600.5718(1)(c). It is not a three-day rule. Note also that certified mail is not one of the four authorised methods — those are personal delivery, substituted delivery on the premises, first-class mail, and electronic service with prior specific written consent.
What is the security deposit cap in Michigan?
One and a half months’ rent, MCL 554.602. The definition of “security deposit” is broad and includes prepayment of rent other than the first full rental period and any sum required as rent in excess of the average rent.
What are Michigan’s security deposit deadlines?
Five of them. Fourteen days from the tenant taking possession for the landlord’s written notice; four days after termination of occupancy for the tenant’s written forwarding address; thirty days after termination for the landlord to mail an itemised list of damages with the estimated cost of repair of each item, accompanied by a cheque or money order for the difference; seven days for the tenant’s detailed response by ordinary mail; and forty-five days after termination, “and not thereafter”, for the landlord to commence an action.
What happens if a Michigan landlord misses the thirty days?
It is treated as an admission, not a fine. MCL 554.610: failure to comply within thirty days “constitutes agreement by the landlord that no damages are due and he shall remit to the tenant immediately the full security deposit”. Separately, failing to comply fully with MCL 554.613 works a waiver of all claimed damages and makes the landlord liable for double the amount of the security deposit retained — double what was retained, not double the whole deposit.
What does Michigan’s fourteen-day deposit notice have to say?
Three things: the landlord’s name and address for receipt of communications; the name and address of the financial institution or surety; and the tenant’s obligation to provide a forwarding address in writing within four days after termination. It must also carry a twelve-point boldface legend, at least four points larger than the body, warning the tenant of that four-day duty. Omitting the notice relieves the tenant of the forwarding-address obligation.
What does Michigan’s Truth in Renting Act prohibit?
It voids fourteen categories of lease clause, including confession of judgment, jury-trial waiver, attorney fees beyond what statute permits, a security interest in the tenant’s property, rent acceleration without the mitigation and court-determination language, release from the duty to mitigate, and a power of attorney. The lease must also carry a specified notice paragraph in at least twelve-point type. Liability attaches only if the landlord fails to cure within twenty days of written notice; uncured, the penalties are two hundred and fifty dollars or actual damages, and five hundred dollars or actual damages for a missing required provision. It applies to written agreements only.
Can a Michigan landlord refuse a housing voucher?
Not if you hold five or more units. Since 2 April 2025, MCL 554.601c bars source-of-income discrimination, including requiring an income threshold while excluding a rent voucher or subsidy from the calculation. The exemption is for a landlord of fewer than five rental units in the state, counting all related entities together. The remedy is injunctive relief and/or actual damages or up to three times the monthly rent, whichever is less, plus costs and fees, in circuit court.
Related Michigan Guides
- Michigan landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
- Michigan eviction notice laws — every ground and its SCAO form.
- Michigan security deposit laws — the five-link deadline chain.
- Michigan lease termination laws — one month, or the rent interval.
- Michigan breaking lease laws — early termination and mitigation.
- Michigan rent increase laws — why Michigan has no rent control.
- Michigan late fee laws — the penalty doctrine, and why fees cannot come out of the deposit.
- Michigan landlord entry laws — and the anti-self-help exposure.
- Michigan habitability laws — the covenants at MCL 554.139.
- Michigan pet and ESA laws — pets, deposits and assistance animals.
- Michigan tenant screening laws — screening and the source-of-income rules.
Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team
Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. Michigan’s SCAO form PDFs will not open to automated reading, and one attempt to read a form returned a confident revision date while admitting it could not see the document — we discarded that answer entirely. The numbers on this page were taken from the document titles themselves and checked against the statute each form implements, which is how we can say that the widely published nonpayment form number is wrong.
Screen Michigan Applicants Before They Sign
Most Michigan landlord-tenant disputes trace back to a tenant a thorough screening would have flagged. Order FCRA-ready credit, criminal and eviction reports and start every tenancy on solid ground.
Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Michigan landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. Source-of-income rules took effect on 2 April 2025 with an exemption for landlords of fewer than five units counting related entities. Court form numbers here come from document titles rather than from form faces, and we publish no revision dates. Several Michigan municipalities operate their own rental ordinances that may add requirements. Confirm the current position with your district court or with a Michigan attorney before you serve a demand or file a case.
