The Michigan Truth in Renting Act bans specific unfair clauses from residential leases, requires every lease to carry a plain-language notice about tenant rights, and gives tenants a process for forcing landlords to fix non-compliant language. If the landlord refuses to cure a violation within 20 days of written notice, the tenant can sue for damages of $250 or $500 depending on the type of violation, plus court costs and attorney fees. The protections apply automatically and cannot be waived, even by written agreement.
What Leases the Act Covers
The law reaches written rental agreements for residential premises, a category that includes houses, apartments, boarding houses, rooming houses, mobile homes, mobile home lots, and single or multi-family dwellings.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.632 Hotels, motels, motor homes, and other temporary tourist accommodations are excluded, and so is a property that is the owner’s primary residence and only rented out occasionally during a vacation or sabbatical.
There is one more carve-out worth knowing. A lease that contains nothing beyond the parties’ names, a description of the premises, the rental period, total rent, payment amount, and when payments are due is not covered by the act.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.632 The moment a lease adds any other term or condition, the full act applies. Almost every real-world lease qualifies.
Lease Clauses That Are Void
Section 3 of the act lists more than a dozen types of clauses that Michigan courts will not enforce, no matter what the lease says.2Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.633 – Prohibited Provisions Out-of-state form leases often contain several of them.
- Anything that waives or changes tenant rights under Michigan’s Security Deposits Act, which caps deposits at one and a half months’ rent.3Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.602 – Security Deposit
- Anything that waives the tenant’s remedies when the unit violates the implied warranty of fitness and habitability.
- Terms that exclude or discriminate against a person in violation of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act or the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act.
- Confession of judgment clauses, which would let a landlord obtain a court judgment without the tenant getting a chance to respond.
- Clauses that release the landlord from liability for failing to perform, or negligently performing, a legal duty. A narrow exception allows a mutual waiver of liability for fire or casualty loss where the other party carries insurance permitting the waiver and waiving subrogation.
- Waivers of either party’s right to a jury trial or to any other procedural right required by law.
- Clauses making a tenant pay attorney fees or legal costs beyond what Michigan statutes specifically allow.
- Clauses giving the landlord a security interest in the tenant’s personal property to guarantee rent, unless another law specifically permits it.
- Rent acceleration clauses that fail to state that the landlord has a duty to mitigate damages and that either party can ask a court to determine the actual amount owed.
- Anything that waives or changes rights in eviction proceedings under Michigan’s Revised Judicature Act.
- Anything that releases either party from the duty to mitigate damages.
- Clauses letting the landlord change lease terms after the agreement starts without the tenant’s written consent.
When a lease contains a prohibited provision, the rest of the lease still holds. The offending clause is treated as if it isn’t there.
The Notice Every Lease Must Contain
Every residential lease in Michigan must include, in a prominent place and in type no smaller than 12-point or in legible print with letters no smaller than 1/8 inch, a notice reading substantially as follows:
“NOTICE: Michigan law establishes rights and obligations for parties to rental agreements. This agreement is required to comply with the Truth in Renting Act. If you have a question about the interpretation or legality of a provision of this agreement, you may want to seek assistance from a lawyer or other qualified person.”4Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.634 – Rental Agreement Mandatory Statements
Boldface is not required. Size is. A lease that hides this language in six-point print at the bottom of a page is treated the same as one that leaves the notice out entirely, which carries the higher penalty tier described below.
How to Force a Fix: The 20-Day Notice
If you spot a prohibited clause or notice that the required statement is missing, send the landlord written notice that identifies the specific provision and explains why it violates the act. The landlord then has 20 days to cure.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.636 – Actions, Court Costs and Attorney Fees
Curing means sending written notice to every tenant currently under a lease with the same problem, stating either that the clause is void and unenforceable or amending it to comply. For a missing mandatory notice, the landlord provides the required statement in writing to all affected tenants.6Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.635 – Notices Send your notice by certified mail with return receipt. If this ends up in court, that receipt is what proves the 20-day clock started.
What You Can Recover in Court
If the 20 days pass without a cure, you can sue. The remedies fall into two tiers.
Standard Violations
For any lease containing a provision that violates Section 3, a court can:
- Void the lease and end the tenancy.
- Enter an injunction barring the landlord from using that provision in future leases and requiring the landlord to cure it in all current leases that contain it.
- Award damages of $250 or actual damages, whichever is greater.
The $250 amount is per action, not per violation. Bundling several bad clauses into one lawsuit does not multiply the statutory minimum.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.636 – Actions, Court Costs and Attorney Fees
Explicit Violations and a Missing Notice
When a clause is “explicitly and unambiguously” prohibited by Section 3, or when the mandatory Section 4 notice is missing entirely, the same injunctive remedies apply, but damages rise to $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.636 – Actions, Court Costs and Attorney Fees The higher figure reflects that some violations leave a landlord no room to argue about interpretation.
Under either tier, the prevailing party recovers court costs and statutory attorney fees.5Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.636 – Actions, Court Costs and Attorney Fees Read that carefully. The fee shift runs to whoever wins, not just to the tenant. A weak claim carries risk.
Penalties for Selling Bad Lease Forms
The act also reaches whoever printed the lease. Anyone who knowingly sells or offers for sale a printed rental agreement form that contains a prohibited provision or omits the required notice faces a civil penalty of $500 per action.7Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws – Act 454 of 1978 That reaches office supply stores, form publishers, and property management software vendors distributing templates in Michigan without checking them against the statute.
Waivers Don’t Work
Section 9 states that the act’s requirements cannot be waived.8Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.631-554.641 – Truth in Renting Act If a landlord slides an addendum across the table at move-in asking you to give up these protections, signing it changes nothing. The waiver is void, and the underlying violations remain actionable on the same 20-day-notice track described above.