Emergency Eviction in Michigan: Grounds, Notice, and Filing

An emergency eviction in Michigan is available in only two situations: a serious, ongoing health hazard or extensive property damage caused by the tenant (seven days’ notice), or illegal drug activity on the premises (24 hours’ notice). Both are governed by MCL 600.5714, and both carry strict procedural requirements that can sink the case if any detail is wrong.¹ Everything else, including unpaid rent and ordinary lease violations, follows longer timelines.

The Two Grounds That Qualify

Michigan limits expedited eviction to the two scenarios above. If your situation does not fit one of them, you cannot use the shortened notice periods, no matter how disruptive the tenant’s behavior has been.

Seven-Day Notice: Health Hazards or Extensive Damage

A landlord can serve a seven-day demand for possession when a tenant causes a serious, continuing health hazard or extensive, ongoing physical damage to the rental property. The tenant then has seven days to either fix the problem or move out. If neither happens, the landlord can file in district court.¹

Two qualifiers matter. First, the hazard or damage must be both serious and ongoing. A one-time incident the tenant has already cleaned up will not meet the threshold. Think of conditions like hoarding that creates fire or pest hazards, structural damage the tenant refuses to address, or contamination affecting neighboring units. Second, the landlord must have discovered the problem no more than 90 days before starting the eviction. A landlord who sat on knowledge of the damage for six months cannot suddenly invoke the fast-track notice; the statute treats the delay as evidence that the situation is not actually urgent.¹

The landlord also has to show the tenant caused the condition, whether intentionally or through negligence.

Twenty-Four-Hour Notice: Illegal Drug Activity

The fastest timeline in Michigan applies when a tenant, a member of the household, or someone under the tenant’s control has manufactured, delivered, or possessed with intent to deliver a controlled substance on the premises. In that case, the landlord can serve a 24-hour written demand for possession.¹

Two preconditions must both be met. A formal police report has to be on file describing the drug activity at the property, and the lease itself has to contain a clause allowing termination for drug-related activity. Without both, the 24-hour notice is simply not available, regardless of how clear the evidence looks.¹

The statute also limits this ground to substances classified in Schedule 1, 2, or 3 under Michigan’s Public Health Code. That covers drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, but not every controlled substance. A landlord without a termination clause or without a police report has to pursue eviction on other grounds, with their longer timelines.

The Right Forms and What Goes in Them

Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office publishes a specific form for each type of notice. Using the wrong form is one of the most common reasons emergency eviction cases get dismissed before they reach a judge.

For a health hazard or property damage case, the correct notice is Form DC 100b, “Demand for Possession, Damage/Health Hazard to Property.” For drug activity, it is Form DC 100e, “Demand for Possession, Termination of Tenancy Due to Unlawful Drug Activity on Premises.” Both are on the Michigan Courts website.²

Each notice has to include the tenant’s full name, the property address, and a clear description of the problem. Vague language like “tenant is damaging the property” will not do. Specifics are what hold up in court: dates, concrete details, and in a drug case the police report number. For example, “hazardous waste accumulating in the kitchen area first observed on November 1,” or “police report number 2025-04372 filed on October 15 regarding methamphetamine manufacturing.”

Once the notice period runs out — seven days or 24 hours — and the tenant has neither cured the problem nor left, the landlord files a formal complaint. That is Form DC 102c, “Complaint to Recover Possession of Property,” filed with the Summons, Form DC 104.³ The complaint must attach a copy of the original notice and explain how and when it was served.

Filing Fees

The base statewide statutory fee for a possession-only case is $45. If the landlord also seeks a money judgment for unpaid rent or damages, a supplemental fee is added:⁴

Claims up to $600: $25 supplemental fee ($70 total)
Claims from $600 to $1,750: $45 supplemental fee ($90 total)
Claims from $1,750 to $10,000: $65 supplemental fee ($110 total)
Claims over $10,000: $150 supplemental fee ($195 total)

Individual district courts can tack on local assessments, so some courts charge $55 or more for a possession-only filing. Confirm the exact amount with your local district court clerk before filing.

Serving the Tenant and the Hearing Date

After filing, the summons and complaint have to be delivered to the tenant by a neutral third party, usually a professional process server or the county sheriff. The landlord cannot serve the papers personally. Service can be made by handing the documents to the tenant directly or by the “tack and mail” method, where papers are attached to the main entrance and a second copy is mailed. Whoever serves the papers then files a Proof of Service with the court.

The tenant must be served at least three days before the scheduled hearing. If the server cannot reach the tenant in time, the court pushes the hearing back, which defeats the whole purpose of an emergency case. Arrange service immediately after filing.

Michigan district courts generally schedule eviction hearings within about ten days of the complaint being filed. The clerk picks the date and prints it on the summons.

At the hearing, both sides testify under oath. The landlord brings photos of the damage, the police report, documentation of the hazard, and proof that the notice was properly served. The tenant gets an equal chance to respond. The judge checks whether the landlord has met every statutory requirement: proper notice, valid grounds, correct timing, and sufficient evidence. Cases often turn on these procedural points rather than the underlying facts, so a landlord with overwhelming evidence can still lose on a bad notice or late service.

Getting an Immediate Order of Eviction

In a standard eviction, the landlord has to wait ten days after judgment before the court will issue an Order of Eviction, Form DC 107 (formerly called the Writ of Restitution).⁵

Emergency cases skip that wait. When the case involves a serious health hazard, extensive property damage, or drug activity, the court can issue the Order of Eviction immediately after entering judgment for possession. To qualify, the landlord has to specifically plead and prove those grounds to the judge’s satisfaction.⁵

A court officer or sheriff’s deputy, not the landlord, carries out the removal. The officer arrives at the property, oversees the tenant’s departure, and restores the landlord to possession.⁶ Until that officer executes the order, the landlord has no legal authority to remove the tenant, change the locks, or touch the tenant’s belongings, no matter what the judgment says.

What Tenants Can Raise in Response

An emergency eviction is not automatic, and tenants have real defenses. For a seven-day case, a tenant who substantially fixes the hazard or repairs the damage within those seven days has a complete defense; timestamped photos and receipts help prove it. Tenants can also raise retaliation under MCL 600.5720: a judge cannot enter a judgment for possession if the eviction is primarily retaliation for the tenant reporting health or safety code violations, enforcing lease rights, or participating in a tenant organization. If the protected activity happened within 90 days before the filing, the law presumes retaliation and shifts the burden to the landlord.⁷

Procedural attacks come up constantly in these cases: wrong form, vague description, discovery outside the 90-day window, no drug-activity clause in the lease, a police report that does not match the notice. Either side has ten days to appeal the judgment, which is especially important for tenants in emergency cases because the Order of Eviction can issue right away.

What Landlords Cannot Do, Ever

Even in an emergency, Michigan flatly prohibits self-help eviction. MCL 600.2918 makes it unlawful for a landlord to change or add locks without immediately giving the tenant new keys, remove or destroy the tenant’s property, board up the unit, remove doors or windows, shut off utilities the landlord is obligated to provide or that the tenant arranged, or use or threaten force.⁸

A tenant subjected to any of these can sue for actual damages or $200 per occurrence, whichever is greater, and triple damages if force was used or threatened. These protections cannot be waived in a lease; any clause purporting to authorize self-help eviction is unenforceable.⁸ No matter how urgent the situation feels, the only legal path to removing a tenant runs through the court.

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5714 – Summary Proceedings to Recover Possession of Premises
2
Michigan Courts. Landlord Tenant and Land Contract Forms
3
Michigan Courts. Complaint to Recover Possession of Property
4
Michigan Courts. District Court Fee and Assessments Table
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5744 – Writ of Restitution
6
Michigan Courts. Application and Order of Eviction
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5720 – Actions for Possession
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.2918 – Forcible Entry or Holding Over After Recovery of Premises