AN ACT to regulate relationships between landlords and tenants relative to rentalagreements for rental units; to regulate the payment, repayment, use and investment of security deposits; to provide for commencement and termination inventories of rentalunits; to provide for termination arrangements relative to rental units; to provide for legalremedies; and to provide penalties.
History:
1972, Act 348, Eff. Apr. 1, 1973
Popular Name:
Landlord-Tenant Act.Laws passed in 1997 offer greater protection for tenants renting from unresponsivelandlords as well as more options for landlords to get rid of drug dealers and destructivetenants. Among the provisions:
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Authorizes county courts to order the quick removal of tenants involved in drug-related criminal activity or violence, even when there is no arrest. Prior written noticeis not required to remove a tenant.
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Allows landlords to remove abandoned personal items once they have complied withnotice requirements.
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Makes a landlord guilty of forcible entry for willfully interrupting utility service,unless it is done for health and safety reasons.
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Allows a tenant, under certain circumstances and after giving a landlord 14 days’notice, to deduct one-half month’s rent or up to $300 (whichever is greater) for repair of code violations when a landlord neglects property. This can be done once a year.
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Allows a landlord to double the rent when a tenant lets another person take over the premises without the landlord’s permission.
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Limits occupancy to two persons per bedroom except for children born during thelease period.A
security deposit
is the money, apart from your monthly rent, that has to be paid to your landlord when you move in. Landlord holds this money as long as you stay. When youmove out and if you have paid all your rent and utility bills and you have not damagedthe unit, the landlord is to return this money. The same rule is for every state.It does not matter what the landlord calls the money, it still is a
security deposit.
If you pay your first and last month’s rent when you move in, the last month’s rent is really asecurity deposit. The only exception to this rule in
Michigan is a non-refundable fee
,such as a cleaning fee paid at the beginning of a tenancy. In other states, a cleaning feemay or may not be permitted, as this can be deducted from a security deposit.
Lease (or Rental Agreement):
In general Lease:” A contract conveying from one entity to another the use of real or personal property for a designated period of time in return for payment or other consideration. “A lease is a contract for the possession and profits of lands and tenements on one side anda recompense of rent or other income on the other or else it is a conveyance of lands andtenements to a person for life or years or at will, in consideration of a return of rent or other recompense.
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