Landlord And Tenant Relationships
Act 348 of 1972
AN ACT to regulate relationships between landlords and tenants relative to
rental agreements for rental units; to regulate the payment, repayment, use
and investment of security deposits; to provide for commencement and termination
inventories of rental units; to provide for terminiation arrangements relative
to rental units; to provide for legal remedies; and to provide penalties.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
554.601 Definitions.
Sec. 1. As used in this act:
(a) "Rental unit" means a structure or part of
a structure used as a home, residence, or sleeping unit by a single person
or household unit, or any grounds, or other facitlities or area promised
for the use of a residential tenant and includes, but without limitation,
apartment units, boarding houses, rooming houses, mobile home spaces, and
single and 2-family dwellings.
(b) "Rental agreement" means an agreement that
establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, regulations, or any
other provisions concerning the use and occupancy of a rental unit.
(c) "Landlord" mean the owner, lessor, or sublessor
of the rental unit or the property of which it is a part and, in addition,
means a person authorized to exercise any aspect of the management of the
premises, including a person who, directly or indirectly, acts as a rental
agent, receives rent, other than as a bona fide purchaser, and who has no
obligation to deliver the receipts to another person.
(d) "Tenant" means a person who occupies a rental
unit for residential purposes with the landlord's consent for an agreed upon
consideration.
(e) "Security deposit" means a deposit, in any
amount, paid by the tenant to the landlord or his or her agent to be held
for the term of the rental agreement, or any part of the term, and includes
any required prepayment of rent other that the first full rental period of
the lease agreement; any sum required to be paid as rent in any rental period
in excess of the average rent for the term; and any other amount of money
or property returnable to the tenant on condition of return of the rental
unit by the tenant in condition as required by the rental agreement.
Security deposit does not include either of the following:
(i) An amount paid for an option to purchase, pursuant
to a lease with option to purchase, unless it is shown the intent was to
evade this act.
(ii) An amount paid as a subscription for or purhase
of a membership in a cooperative housing association incorporated under the
laws of this state. As used in this subparagraph, "cooperative housing
association" means a consumer cooperative that provides dwelling units to
its members.
(f) "Senior citizen housing" means housing for
individuals 62 years of age or older that is subsidized in whole or in part
under any local, state, or federal program.
554.601a Termination of lease; conditions; applicability of section
to leases entered into, renewed, or
renegotiated after effective date.
Sec. 1a. (1) A rental agreement shall provide
that a tenant who has occupied a rental unit for more than 13 months may
terminate a lease by a 60-day written notice to the landlord if 1 of the
following occurs:
(a) The tenant becomes eligible during the lease
term to take possession of a subsidized rental unit in senior citizen housing
and provides the landlord written proof of that eligibility.
(b) The tenant becomes incapable during the lease
term of living independently, as certified by a physician in a notarized
statement.
(2) This section applies only to leases entered
into, renewed, or renegotiated after the effective date of this section,
in accordance with the costitutional prohibition against impairment of contracts
provided by section 10 of article I of the state constitution of 1963.
History: Add. 1995, Act 79. Imd Eff. June 15, 1995
554.602 Security deposit; amount.
Sec. 2. A landlord may require a security deposit
of each rental unit. A security deposit shall be required and maintained
in accordance with the terms of this act and shall not exceed 1 1/2 months'
rent.
554.603 Security deposit; notice.
Sec. 3. A landlord shall not require a security
deposit unless he notifies the tenant no later than 14 days from the date
a tenant assumes possession in a written instrument of the landlord's name
and address for receipt of communications under this act, the name and address
of the financial institution or surety required by section 4 and the tenant's
obligation to provide in writing a forwarding mailing address to the landlord
within 4 days after ermination of occupancy. The notice shall include
the following statement in 12 point boldface type which is a least 4 points
larger than the body of the notice or lease agreement: "You must notify
your landlord in writing within 4 days after you move of a forwarding address
where you can be reached and where you will receive mail; otherwise your
landlord shall be relieved of sending you an itemized list of damages and
the penalties adherent to that failure." Failure to provide the information
relieves the tenant of his obligation relative to notification of the landlord
of his forwarding mailing address.
554.604 Security deposit, disposition; bond.
Sec. 4. (1) The security deposit shall be
deposited in a regulated financial institution. A landlord may use
the moneys so deposited for any purposes he desires if he deposits with the
secretary of state a cash bond or surety bond written by a surety company
licensed to do business in this state and acceptable to the attorney general
to secure the entire deposits up to $50,000.00 and 25% of any amount exceeding
$50, 000.00. The attorney general may find a bond unacceptable based
only upon reasonable criteria relating to the sufficiency of the bond, and
shall notify the landlord in writing of his reasons for the unacceptability
of the bond.
(2) The bond shall be for the benefit of persons
making security deposits with the landlord. A person for whose benefit
the bond is written or his legal representative may bring an action in the
district, common pleas or municipal court where the landlord residues or
does business for collection of the bond.
554.605 Security deposit as property of tenant.
Sec. 5. For the purposes of this act and any litagation
arising thereunder, the security deposit is considered the lawful property
of the tenant until the landlord establishes a right to the deposit or portions
thereof as long as the bond provision is fulfilled, the landlord may use
this fund for any purposes he desires.
554.606 Waiving requirements of act.
Sec. 6. The requirements of this act may not be
waived by the parties to a rental agreement except as specifically provided
herein.
554.607 Security deposit; permissible uses.
Sec. 7. A security deposit may be used only
for the following purposes:
(a) Reimburse the landlord for actual damages to
the rental unit or any ancillary facility that are the direct result of conduct
not reasonably expected in the normal course of habitation of a dwelling.
(b) Pay the landlord for all rent in arrearage
under the rental agreement, rent due for premature termination of the rental
agreement by the tenant and for utility bills not paid by the tenant.
554.608 Inventory checklists.
Sec. 8. (1) The landlord shall make use of
inventory checklists both at the commencement and termination of occupancy
for each rental unit which detail the condition of the rental unit for which
a security deposit is required.
(2) At the commencement of the lease, the landlord
shall furnish the tenant 2 blank copies of a commencement inventory checklist,
which form shall be identical to the form used for the termination inventory
checklist. The checklist shall include all items in the rental unit
owned by the landlord including, but not limited to, carpeting, draperies,
appliances, windows, furniture, walls, closets, shelves, paint, doors, plumbing
fixtures and electrical fixtures.
(3) Unless the landlord and tenant agree to complete
the inventory checklist within a shorter period, the tenant shall review
the checklist, note the condition of the property and return 1 copy of the
checklist to the landlord within 7 days after receiving possession of the
premises.
(4) The checklist shall contain the following notice
in 12 point boldface type at the top of the first page: "You should
complete this checklist, noting the condition of the rental property, and
return it to the landlord within 7 days after obtaining possession of the
rental unit. You are also entitled to request and receive a copy of
the last termination inventory checklist which shows what claims were chargeable
to the last prior tenants.".
554.609 Itemized list of damages; check or money order; contents
of notice of damages.
Sec. 9. In case of damage to the rental
unit or other obligation against the security deposit, the landlord shall
mail to the tenant, within 30 days after the termination of occupancy, an
itemized list of damages claimed for which the security deposit may be used
as provided in section 7, including the estimated cost of repair of each
property damaged item and the amounts and bases on which he intends to assess
the tenant. The list shall be accompanied by a check or money order
for the difference between the damages claimed and the amount of the security
deposit held by the landlord and shall not include any damages that were
claimed on a previous termination inventory checklist prior to tenant's occupancy
of the rental unit. The notice of damages shall include the following
statement in 12 point boldface type which shall be at least 4 points larger
than the body of the notice: "You must respond to this notice by mail
within 7 days after receipt of same, otherwise you will forfeit the amount
claimed for damages.".
554.610 Effect of noncompliance with notice of damages
requirement.
Sec. 10. Failure by the landlord to comply with
the notice of damages requirement within the 30 days after the termination
of occupancy, constitutes agreement by the landlord that no damages are due
and he shall remit to the tenant immediately the full security deposit.
554.611 Notice of forwarding address; effect of noncompliance.
Sec. 11. The tenant shall notify the landlord in
writing at the address given under section 4 within 4 days after termination
of his occupancy of an address at which communications pursuant to this act
may be received. Failure to comply with this requirement relieves the
landlord of the requirements of notice damages but does not prejudice a tenant's
subsequent claim for the security deposit.
554.612 Response to notice of damages.
Sec. 12. If a landlord claims damages to rental
unit and gives notice of damages as required the tenant upon receipt of the
list of damages shall respond by ordinary mail to the address provided by
the landlord as required by section 3 within 7 days, indicating in detail
his agreement or disagreement to the damage charges listed. For the
purposes of this section the date of mailing shall be considered the date
of the tenant's response.
554.613 Action for damages; retention of security deposit; waiver.
Sec. 13. (1) Within 45 days after termination of
the occupancy and not thereafter the landlord may commence an action in
a court of competent jurisdiction for a money judgement for damages
which he has claimed or in lieu thereof return the balance of the security
deposit held by him to the tenant or any amount mutually agreed upon in writing
by the parties. A landlord shall not be entitled to retain any portion
of a security deposit for damages claimed unless he has first obtained a
money judgment for the disputed amount or filed with the court satisfactory
proof of an inability to obtain service on the tenant or unless:
(a) The tenant has failed to provide a forwarding
address as required by section 11.
(b) The tenant has failed to respond to the notice
damages as required by section 12.
(c) The parties have agreed in writing to the dispostion
of the balance of the deposit claimed by the landlord.
(d) The amount claimed is entirely based upon accrued
and unpaid rent equal to the actual rent for any full rental period or portion
thereof during which the tenant has had actual or constructive possession
of the premises.
(2) This section does not prejudice a landlord's
right to retain any security deposit funds as satisfaction or partial
satisfaction of a money judgment obtained pursuant to summary proceedings
filed pursuant to chapter 57 of Act No. 236 of the Public Acts of 1961, as
amended, being sections 600.5701 to 600.5759 of the Compiled Laws of 1948
or other proceedings at law. Failure of the landlord to comply fully
with this section constitutes waiver of all claimed damages and makes him
liable to the tenant for double the amount of the security deposit retained.
554.614 Termination of landlord's interest; liability for security
deposit.
Sec. 14. Upon termination of a landlord's interest
in a rental unit whether by sale, assignment, death, appointment of receiver
of otherwise, the landlord or his agent is liable with respect to the security
deposit, until the occurence of any of the following:
(a) Transfer of the deposit to the landlord's successor
in interest and written notification to the tenant by ordinary mail of the
transfeer and of the successor's name and address.
(b) Compliance with section 4 by the successor in
interest.
(c) Return of the security deposit to the tenant.
554.615 Action to enforce act.
Sec. 15. The attorney general or any affected
individual may bring an action to enforce the act in a court of competent
jurisdiction in the county where the defendant resides or does business.
554.616 Effective date and applicability of act.
Sec. 16. This act takes effect April 1, 1973 and applies
only to security deposits held pursuant to leases entered into, renewed or
renegotiated after April 1, 1973. |
Lapeer County Government