The Michigan eviction process is a court-supervised sequence: the landlord serves a written notice, waits out the notice period, files a complaint in district court, wins a judgment at a hearing, and then waits for a judge-signed Order of Eviction that a law enforcement officer carries out. Start to finish, an uncontested case usually runs a few weeks; contested cases take longer. A landlord who skips any step is exposed to damages.
A Landlord Cannot Do It Themselves
Michigan law bars landlords from forcing a tenant out on their own. Changing the locks, shutting off heat or electricity, removing belongings, boarding up doors, or using noise and odors to drive a tenant out all count as unlawful interference with possession, and these rights cannot be waived in a lease. A tenant subjected to any of these tactics can sue for actual damages or $200 per incident, whichever is more, and triple damages apply if the landlord physically forces them out.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.2918 Only a court order, carried out by law enforcement, can remove a tenant.
Grounds for Eviction and the Matching Notice Period
Michigan recognizes a limited set of reasons a landlord can file for eviction, and each reason carries its own notice period. Picking the wrong ground or the wrong notice sinks the case.
- Nonpayment of rent: seven days after a written demand to pay or move.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5714
- Serious, continuing health hazard or extensive property damage: seven days to fix or move.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5714
- Drug activity on the premises, documented by a formal police report: 24 hours after the demand.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.134
- Physical injury or threats caused by the tenant or someone under the tenant’s control: seven days.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5714
- Ending a tenancy or removing a holdover tenant: notice length matches the rent period. A month-to-month tenant gets one month’s notice; weekly rent means one week’s notice; a year-to-year tenancy needs a full year.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.134
These grounds are the whole list. Personal disagreements or a landlord’s preference for a different tenant are not grounds.
Step 1: The Written Notice
For unpaid rent, the landlord uses a Demand for Possession, Nonpayment of Rent, which must state the amount owed, the landlord’s address, the date of the notice, and a description of the property, and must give the tenant seven days to pay in full or leave.4Michigan Courts. Form DC 100a – Demand for Possession Nonpayment of Rent Paying in full within those seven days stops the eviction.
For damage or a health hazard, a separate demand form gives the tenant seven days to repair, remove the hazard, or move.5Michigan Courts. Form DC 100b – Demand for Possession Damage/Health Hazard to Property For ending a month-to-month tenancy, lease violations, or a holdover, the landlord uses a Notice to Quit.6Michigan Courts. Instructions for Form DC 100c – Notice to Quit to Recover Possession of Property
The notice has to actually reach the tenant. The landlord can hand it directly to the tenant, leave it with someone in the household old enough to accept it, or mail it to the rental address. Faulty service is a common reason cases get thrown out.
Step 2: Filing in District Court
Once the notice period expires without compliance, the landlord files a complaint in the district court for the county where the property sits. The base filing fee is $45, with an additional $25 to $150 if the landlord is also asking for a money judgment for unpaid rent.7Michigan Courts. District Court Fee and Assessments Table The court issues a summons setting a hearing date, usually around 10 days out.
The summons and complaint have to be served on the tenant at least three days before the hearing. Service requires mailing plus one of the following: personal hand delivery, delivery to a household member at the property, or secure attachment to the main entrance after failed attempts at in-person delivery.
Step 3: The Hearing
Both sides appear before a district court judge. The landlord has to prove a valid ground, proper notice, and proper service, typically with the lease, a copy of the demand, and rent or violation records. The tenant then gets to respond. The case can end in a judgment for possession, a dismissal for the landlord’s procedural errors, or a negotiated agreement between the parties. Some negotiated agreements end the case as a dismissal if the tenant follows through; others enter as a judgment on agreed terms.
Defenses That Can Stop the Case
A tenant isn’t limited to arguing the rent was paid. Michigan recognizes several defenses that can defeat an eviction even when the landlord’s basic claim is true.
- Retaliation. A court cannot enter a possession judgment if the eviction was primarily punishment for the tenant reporting code violations, exercising lease rights, or joining a tenant organization. If the tenant took that step within 90 days before the filing, retaliation is presumed and the landlord has to disprove it.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5720
- The landlord’s failure to maintain the property, which can defeat a nonpayment claim on the theory that a landlord who let conditions deteriorate cannot then demand full rent.
- Repair and deduct, where a tenant who paid for repairs the landlord refused to make argues those costs offset the rent claimed.
- Procedural failures: wrong notice form, wrong notice period, too little time between service and hearing, no mailing of the summons. These are the defenses that succeed most often, because the requirements are strict and often cut short.
- Compliance before the deadline: the tenant paid the rent or fixed the damage in time.
Several of these defenses are waived if not raised before or during the hearing, so a tenant who intends to fight needs to act before the court date.
Step 4: Judgment, the 10-Day Window, and the Order of Eviction
When the judge rules for the landlord, the tenant ordinarily has 10 days before the court will sign an Order of Eviction (called a writ of restitution in the statute). A tenant can ask the judge for more time to move. The judge can sign an immediate order in three situations: the tenant took possession by force or trespassing, the tenant caused a serious and continuing health hazard, or the property is under a government order to be vacated.9Michigan Legal Help. Eviction after Court Is Over
In nonpayment cases, the tenant has one powerful move during this window: paying the full judgment plus court costs before the Order of Eviction is executed stops it, and the court cannot issue the order.10Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 600.5744 This right does not apply to evictions based on lease violations, drug activity, or the other non-rent grounds.
Physical Removal
If the tenant doesn’t move or pay, the landlord returns to court, gets the Order of Eviction signed, and delivers it to a law enforcement officer, usually a sheriff’s deputy or court officer. The officer goes to the property, oversees the departure, and hands possession back to the landlord. Even at this stage, only law enforcement can carry out the removal; the landlord cannot.9Michigan Legal Help. Eviction after Court Is Over Michigan does not have a detailed statute governing belongings left behind after a court-ordered eviction, so the former tenant should be given a reasonable chance to collect personal property.
Extra Protection for Active-Duty Service Members
Federal law adds a layer for military tenants. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a landlord cannot evict an active-duty service member or their dependents from a primary residence without a court order when the monthly rent is $10,239.63 or less (the 2025 threshold, adjusted annually from a $2,400 base). If military duties have materially affected the service member’s ability to pay rent, the court must stay the case for at least 90 days. Knowingly evicting a protected service member without a court order is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress
Where to Get Help
Tenants facing eviction in Michigan can find free legal assistance through Michigan Legal Help (michiganlegalhelp.org), which provides court-approved self-help tools, or through a county legal aid office. The timeline from notice to hearing can be as short as two to three weeks, so waiting is expensive. Landlords benefit from moving carefully in the other direction: a small mistake on the notice form, the service method, or the hearing date can send them back to the beginning.