How much can a Michigan landlord charge for a security deposit?

One and a half months' rent. MCL 554.602 provides that a security deposit shall not exceed 1 1/2 months' rent. The trap is the definition: MCL 554.601(d) counts any required prepayment of rent other than the first full rental period, and any sum required as rent in a period in excess of the average rent for the term, as part of the deposit. Collecting first month, last month and a deposit can therefore breach the cap even though part of it is labelled rent.

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

Thirty days to send the itemized list of damages, under MCL 554.609, mailed within 30 days after termination of occupancy and accompanied by a check or money order for the balance. If the landlord misses that deadline, MCL 554.610 treats it as an agreement by the landlord that no damages are due and requires the full deposit to be remitted immediately.

What is the Michigan 45-day rule for security deposits?

MCL 554.613(1) gives the landlord 45 days after termination of occupancy, and not thereafter, to commence an action for a money judgment for the damages claimed, or else return the balance of the deposit. A Michigan landlord may not simply keep a disputed amount: without a money judgment, or proof of inability to serve the tenant, retention is lawful only in four narrow situations. Failing to comply fully waives all claimed damages and makes the landlord liable for double the deposit retained under MCL 554.613(2).

What notice must a Michigan lease contain under the Truth in Renting Act?

MCL 554.634 requires two things in the agreement itself. Subsection (1) requires the name and address at which notice under the act is given to the lessor. Subsection (2) requires, in a prominent place and in type not smaller than 12-point or legible print with letters not smaller than one eighth of an inch, a notice stating that Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for parties to rental agreements, that the agreement is required to comply with the Truth in Renting Act, and that the reader may want to seek assistance from a lawyer or other qualified person.

Which lease clauses are void in Michigan?

MCL 554.633 lists fourteen. They include waiving a remedy for a breach of the habitability covenants in MCL 554.139, waiving a right under the security deposit act, a confession of judgment, exculpating the lessor from liability for failing to perform a duty imposed by law, waiving a jury trial, shifting attorney fees beyond what a statute specifically permits, taking a security interest in the tenant's personal property, accelerating rent without the required mitigation statement, waiving eviction rights, releasing a party from the duty to mitigate, letting the lessor change terms mid-term without written consent, violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, and requiring a power of attorney. MCL 554.633(3) makes an offending provision void.

Can a Michigan lease make the tenant pay the landlord's attorney fees?

No. MCL 554.633(1)(g) bars a provision making a party liable for another party's legal costs or attorney fees in connection with a dispute arising under the rental agreement in excess of costs or fees specifically permitted by statute, and MCL 554.633(3) makes it void. Michigan has no statute awarding a residential landlord contract attorney fees, so an ordinary prevailing-party clause exceeds the ceiling. The statutory fee awards run the other way, under MCL 554.636(4) and MCL 554.601d.

How much notice must a Michigan landlord give before entering?

None by statute. Michigan never adopted the uniform act, and there is no landlord access provision in the Security Deposit Act, the Truth in Renting Act, the 1846 Revised Statutes landlord-tenant sections or the summary proceedings chapter of the Revised Judicature Act. The Michigan Legislature's own official guide does not raise the question. Any notice a Michigan tenant receives exists only because the lease creates it, which is why this generator asks you to choose a period.

How much notice ends a Michigan month-to-month tenancy?

One month. MCL 554.134(1) lets either party end an estate at will or by sufferance on one month's notice, and provides that where rent is payable at periods of less than three months a notice equal to the interval between times of payment is sufficient, so a week-to-week tenancy takes seven days. The notice is not void because it names a termination day that does not line up with a rental period; it simply takes effect at the end of a period equal to the payment interval.

What notice comes before an eviction in Michigan?

It depends on the ground. MCL 600.5714(1)(a) requires a written demand for possession and 7 days for nonpayment of rent, excluding accelerated indebtedness. MCL 600.5714(1)(b) allows 24 hours for a controlled substance termination, but only where a formal police report has been filed. MCL 600.5714(1)(d) and (e) each give 7 days, for a serious continuing health hazard and for causing or threatening physical injury on the landlord's property. MCL 600.5716 prescribes what the demand must say.

Can a Michigan landlord change the locks or shut off utilities?

No. MCL 600.2918(2) makes unlawful interference with a tenant's possessory interest actionable at actual damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater, for each occurrence, and the list expressly includes changing or adding locks without immediately providing keys, boarding the premises, removing doors, windows or locks, and causing the termination or interruption of heat, running water, hot water, electric or gas service. Forcible ejectment carries three times actual damages or two hundred dollars, whichever is greater. MCL 600.2918(7) provides that the section may not be waived.

Does Michigan cap late fees or allow rent control?

There is no Michigan late-fee statute and no statutory grace period, so a late fee exists only because the lease creates it, and the Michigan Legislature's official guide states that the amount must be reasonable and proportionate to the actual damages suffered. Rent control is separately barred statewide: MCL 123.411 forbids a local governmental unit from enacting, maintaining or enforcing an ordinance controlling the amount of rent charged for private residential property.

What is the Michigan source of income rule for landlords?

MCL 554.601c, added by 2024 PA 178 and effective 2 April 2025, bars a landlord from denying or terminating a tenancy, discriminating in price, terms, conditions or fees, or excluding a rent voucher or subsidy when applying an income threshold, because of a tenant's source of income, which expressly includes housing choice vouchers, public assistance, veterans' benefits and Social Security. It does not apply to a person who, with all related entities, is a landlord of fewer than five rental units in Michigan. MCL 554.601d supplies the remedy.

Must a Michigan lease include a senior citizen termination clause?

Yes. MCL 554.601a provides that a rental agreement shall 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 for a subsidized unit in senior citizen housing for individuals aged 62 or older and supplies written proof, or becomes incapable of living independently as certified by a physician in a notarized statement. It applies to leases entered into, renewed or renegotiated after 15 June 1995.

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Free Michigan Residential Lease Agreement

Michigan residential lease agreement walk-through

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A configurable Michigan residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built to the Security Deposit Act at MCL 554.601, the Truth in Renting Act at MCL 554.631, the required duplicate inventory checklist, and the forty-five-day sue-or-return rule.

Michigan MCL 554.601 & 554.631 Checklist Required Free PDF 2026 Edition

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Scope Michigan ~14 min read

A Michigan residential lease agreement is governed by two separate statutes rather than one uniform act, and that is the single most useful thing to know before you draft one. The Security Deposit Act, 1972 PA 348 at MCL 554.601 and following, controls the money. The Truth in Renting Act, 1978 PA 454 at MCL 554.631 and following, controls the words — it lists fourteen clause types a Michigan lease may not contain and requires a specific notice to appear in the agreement itself. Michigan never adopted the uniform residential landlord and tenant act, so there is no single chapter to read, no statutory entry rule at all, and several duties that most templates treat as optional are in fact mandatory: a move-in inventory checklist in duplicate, a senior citizen termination clause, and a fourteen-day deposit notice without which a landlord may not require a deposit at all. Verified 6 August 2026 against the official Michigan Legislature compilation, marked complete through Public Act 20 of 2026.

Michigan Lease Rules at a Glance

Security Deposit Cap

1 1/2 Months

Itemized List Due

30 Days

Entry Notice

None by Statute

Month-to-Month Notice

1 Month

The number nobody prints: forty-five days. Under MCL 554.613(1) a Michigan landlord has 45 days after termination of occupancy, and not thereafter, to sue for the damages claimed or return the balance of the deposit — and may not simply retain a disputed amount without a money judgment. Failing to comply fully waives every claimed damage and makes the landlord liable for double the deposit retained under MCL 554.613(2).

The Michigan Deposit Sequence Almost Everyone Misnumbers

Michigan’s move-out rules run across five sections and they are cited wrongly more often than not — the brief that started this build had three of them in the wrong place. Here is the correct order. MCL 554.611 is the tenant’s four-day forwarding address. MCL 554.609 is the landlord’s thirty-day itemized list of damages. MCL 554.610 is the consequence of missing it: an agreement by the landlord that no damages are due, and immediate remittance of the whole deposit. MCL 554.612 is the tenant’s seven-day reply by ordinary mail. MCL 554.613 holds both the forty-five-day sue-or-return duty and the double damages penalty. If a page tells you the tenant’s seven days come from 554.610 or the forty-five days from 554.611, it has not read the statute.

How to Fill Out This Michigan Lease Agreement

The Seven-Step Michigan Sequence

1. Name the parties and the statutory notice address

MCL 554.634(1) requires the rental agreement to state the name and address at which notice under the Truth in Renting Act is given to the lessor, and MCL 554.603 requires that same address in the security deposit notice. In Michigan this is statutory lease content, not a courtesy.

2. Describe the premises and choose the term

A lease running longer than one year must be in writing and signed under MCL 566.108. Note the side effect: MCL 554.139(2) lets the parties modify the covenants of fitness and reasonable repair only where the lease has a current term of at least one year, so a shorter term makes those covenants entirely unmodifiable.

3. Set rent, the due day and any late fee

Michigan sets no statutory grace period and no late-fee cap, and MCL 123.411 bars every Michigan municipality from enacting rent control. What limits the fee is the common-law rule against penalties: the Legislature’s own guide says it must be reasonable and proportionate to the actual damages caused by late payment.

4. Work out the real deposit number

MCL 554.602 caps the deposit at one and a half months’ rent, but MCL 554.601(d) counts any required prepayment of rent beyond the first full rental period as part of that deposit. Enter the prepaid rent separately and the generated lease says so on its face. Record where the deposit is held, because MCL 554.603 requires that in the notice.

5. Prepare two blank inventory checklists

This is the Michigan step no competitor template asks about. MCL 554.608 requires two blank copies of a commencement checklist, on a form identical to the termination form, headed by a specific twelve-point boldface notice, with the tenant returning one copy within seven days.

6. Set the entry notice yourself

Michigan has no landlord entry statute anywhere. There is no statutory notice period, so whatever the tenant gets exists only because this lease creates it. Choose deliberately rather than leaving the question open.

7. Generate, sign and diarise the fourteen days

Download the multi-page PDF and sign. No witnesses and no notary are required. Then deliver the security deposit notice within fourteen days of the tenant taking possession, because MCL 554.603 says a landlord shall not require a deposit without it.

Build Your Michigan Residential Lease Agreement

Complete the fields below to generate a Michigan residential lease agreement as a signable multi-page PDF. Every field you fill is written into the document, and the generated lease cites the controlling Michigan section at each point — including the Truth in Renting Act notice on the title page, the whole move-out sequence, and both verbatim boldface statements the Security Deposit Act prescribes. Before handing over keys, run proper tenant screening. Pair the signed lease with a Michigan move-in / move-out checklist, which in this state is not optional paperwork but a statutory duty under MCL 554.608.

Michigan Residential Lease Agreement Builder

1. Parties

MCL 554.634(1) requires the rental agreement itself to state the name and address at which notice under the Truth in Renting Act is given to the lessor, and MCL 554.603 requires the same address in the security deposit notice. Fill both fields — in Michigan they are statutory content, not courtesy.

Landlord (lessor) full legal name

Landlord phone

Landlord name and address for notices (MCL 554.634(1))

Tenant 1 full legal name

Tenant 2 full legal name (if any)

Additional tenants (comma-separated)

Authorized occupants who are not tenants (minors, etc.)

2. Premises

Rental property address (street, unit, city, ZIP)

County

Property type

Year built (pre-1978 triggers federal lead disclosure)

Bedrooms / bathrooms

Total rental units this landlord owns in Michigan (MCL 554.601c applies at five or more)

3. Term

A Michigan lease running longer than one year must be in writing and signed (MCL 566.108). A term of at least one year is also the only situation in which MCL 554.139(2) lets the parties modify the covenants of fitness and reasonable repair.

Lease type

Term length in months (if other)

Lease start date

Lease end date (if fixed)

4. Rent

Monthly rent (dollars)

Rent due day of month

Late fee, if any (Michigan sets no cap; it must be reasonable)

Grace period in days (Michigan provides none by statute)

Acceptable payment methods (comma-separated)

State the dishonored check processing fees set by MCL 600.2952 rather than inventing one

5. Security Deposit — the Michigan sequence

MCL 554.601(d) counts any required prepayment of rent beyond the first full rental period as part of the deposit, so last month’s rent collected up front sits under the one-and-a-half-month cap in MCL 554.602. The generated lease prints the whole statutory sequence and both boldface notices.

Total security deposit (dollars)

Prepaid rent collected beyond the first rental period (dollars)

Where the deposit is held (MCL 554.604)

Name and address of the financial institution or surety (MCL 554.603 requires this in the 14-day notice)

Fourteen-day security deposit notice with the statutory boldface forwarding-address warning (MCL 554.603) — a landlord may not require a deposit